If you’re interested in sharing your opinion on any cultural, political or personal topic, create an account here and check out our how-to post to learn more. Opinions are the writer’s own and not those of Blavity's. ____ I recently received an email from someone who disagreed with a presentation I had given on the racist history of our national anthem, “ The Star-Spangled Banner .” She expressed deep disappointment that I was “making everything about racism.” She assured me the anthem was not, in fact, racist and explained that white Americans were actually fighting against slavery: their own. She argued that the British wanted to impose slavery on white Americans through taxes. She, like many Americans, was so confident in the version of history she assumed to know that she could not see the factual, moral and ethical hypocrisy of trying to equate a war over maritime trade restrictions, with the brutality and subhuman treatment of colonial and constitutional Americans...
