University of Kentucky's Protest Against 'Star Spangled Banner'

From the Jan. 24, 2021, Lexington (Ky) Herald-Ledger "UK's protest an action that dates back to national anthem's 'very origins' by Jerry Tipton.

It was a peaceful protest  during the playing of the National Anthem at Florida earlier this month.  The whole University of  Kentucky basketball team, including coaches, kneeled during the National Anthem.

Mark Clague, an associate professor of musicology at the University of  Michigan has written a book about the anthem "Singing Citizenship: A Political History of the  Star-Spangled Banner" which is being published early next year.

He said the anthem was originally written as a poem, entitled "The Defence of Fort McHenry," written by Francis Scott Key who witnessed  the famed battle.

"It's a political song from the get-go.  Francis Scott Key's  song is a call for unity.  It's a call for a central government that can defend itself.  Neither of those things were  true of the United States in 1814."

--Brock-Perry