We've all seen the news reports of Colin Kaepernick sitting during the national anthem at SF 49ers football games. His actions highlight the need for our country to rethink our national anthem. Our current anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, highlights and glorifies war, particularly a war of aggression where slaves were forced to fight for an unjust cause. The third verse of The Star Spangled Banner revels in the deaths of slaves who sought safety with the British.
America the Beautiful focuses on the beauty of our country and values that we can be proud of instead of a heritage that we must learn from so that we do not continue to make the same mistakes.
It is time to change our national anthem.