the 4 types of national anthems:
- Gosh, This Sure is an Attractive Piece of Land We've Got Here
- That One War in Particular was a Doozy
- We Only Sing Parts of This Song Now Because the Other Verses are Racist
- We Speak French and We Will Fucking Kill You
History Time!
Before he wrote the US National anthem, Francis Scott Key tried to play soldier boy in the war of 1812. He fought in the Battle of Bladenburg near DC where ~7K US forces fought ~4K British. The heavily outnumbered Brits had a group of paid soldiers called the Colonial Marines that included some Black dudes✊🏿
Brits said, "Yo slaves! Let us train you as soldiers! You will get paid to kill slavers!"
You already know what happened next.
The Brits won the battle so decisively that they pushed on from Bladensburg and burned Washington DC., including the building that we call the White House today.
The White House was already white, but people didn't call it that. After their victory at Bladensburg, the British burned DC. Soot everywhere!
After the US rebuilt the city, the building was shining white. People started calling it the White House.
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/burned-white-house-painting
The US side had a few Black soldiers too! They received a similar promise of freedom. But the Black US soldiers were disappointed in the skill and resolve of some of their white peers. Charles Ball said (in 1814 language), "Bro! Why are y'all running away? We're fighting for our freedom and our country! I thought you were a militia? Pshh! Soft!"
@Janko @VeryBadLlama
Francis Scott Key was so embarrassed by getting spanked at Bladenburg by former slaves turned professional soldiers, that he added these lines to the third verse of the Star Spangled Banner:
"No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave."
In most US wars, Black prisoners of war didn't get the same humane treatment as white POWs. They were tortured and executed. Some colonial Marines met this fate.
So in typical US fashion, we just... don't sing that part of the anthem! And we consider it very rude to even bring this up!🤡
And we don't teach it in schools. Most US citizens don't even know that there is a 3rd verse to the national anthem.🤡🤡
And Black folk that try to say, "I love the US but I don't sing the anthem because..." are not considered to be like Charles Ball. They're considered un-American. Sometimes by British citizens!🤡🤡🤡
@mekkaokereke
OMG this mini thread within a thread made me choke on my coffee.
Now I have to look up our national anthem.
Also, this is why the Black National Anthem exists. Because the US is a 🤡 show.
@mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
Good thing we have a spare Natl Anthem standing by
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AePCvFrggZM
@eRileyKc @mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama There's a big reason that one never made the cut:
"As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me."
Imagine living in a country with Right to Roam as a freedom of citizenship - like the British we broke free from. smh.
@jonathanpeterson @eRileyKc @mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
There's also this bit:
"In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?"
@vor @jonathanpeterson @eRileyKc @mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
Plus the fact that it in its inclusiveness it fails to emphasize those who were here millennia before all others and to whom all this land rightfully belongs.
This isn't "our" land, but theirs.
@mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama fun fact: we germans don't sing the whole first two stanzas of our national anthem, because, well, y'know....
The third stanza is fine though.
@mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
In a similar vein, Bacon's Rebellion is worth shining some light at, too. Americans need to understand the parts of their history they weren't taught at school.
@fenris23 @Illuminatus @Janko @VeryBadLlama
Hey, we're also taught that the Alamo was a victory of some kind, so this is pretty mild in comparison! 🤷🏿♂️
@mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
The same way Germans only sing the third stanza of their national anthem, I suppose...
@Janko @VeryBadLlama @mekkaokereke
Edit: I learned from the replies that Asimov was known for sexually assaulting women at conferences.
There's an Asimov short story where someone exposed a Russian spy because no American would know the third verse. I guess there's an unseen and implied "white" in it.
The story is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Refuge_Could_Save
@Janko @VeryBadLlama @mekkaokereke @platanoutre
First I hear of him being a sex pest so notorious seems like a bit of a stretch here.
@sol @gbargoud @Janko @VeryBadLlama @mekkaokereke
Notorious among women as he liked to grope as many as he could for decades. Letters were sent advising against being near him ffs. Conferences mentioned it in bulletins.
@platanoutre @Janko @VeryBadLlama @mekkaokereke @sol
Found it on his Wikipedia page under "views -> sexual assault".
That's pretty fucked up and I won't be sharing any of his stories anymore after reading it but it's not fair to say that the only people who don't know are those who don't want to know given that he died almost 35 years ago and there are many people who have read his stories or seen movies based on them and not heard anything about his personal life.
@mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
This is a great thread, TIL 👍
@Janko @VeryBadLlama @mekkaokereke
Canadians have our own songs about that event thanks to the Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie…
[fully aware that we engage in our own forms of ‘patriotic’ historical revisionism]
@MariellaSmith @mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama @DeliaChristina
A long time ago, my Florida public school history teacher was teaching my class about the Mexican government wanting to free the enslaved people in Coahuila y Tejas.
@mekkaokereke @Janko @VeryBadLlama
Eric Flint used that battle and Charles Ball in his alternate history novel "1812: The Rivers of War"and the sequel "1824: The Arkansas War."
Flint worked from the premise of less horrible version of the Trail of Tears.
Ball ends up the general of the independent "Arkansas Confederacy" where slavery is banned (sort of, it's complicated.)
The first book is legitimately available for free on the "1635 The Eastern Front CD" here:
Janel Comeau
Jan Brachat
mekka okereke 
Diligence Jones
Bruce Mirken
Coach Pāṇini ®
Dr. Ruchira S. Datta
DiasporaDiamond
Winterbay
e Riley Casey
Mr. Fred 🔥
jonathanpeterson
Scissors Cut Paper...
Ricardo Harvin
JollyOrc
klausfiend has moved
Helchose
The Animal and the Machine
humm
jmjm
Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸
Court Cantrell does not comply
Tobias Goeschel
Seiðr
Lynn McAlister UE 
Edwardo Lobo
Deadly Headshot
Jürgen Hubert
George B
platanoutre
Sol Kawage
Deb Nam-Krane
David Scott Moyer
Maddad ☑️
David Mitchell 
ራስ ባሪያው Rass Bariaw
Mariella Smith
Enema Cowboy
Annalee
Captain Button