Oh, say can you see…

https://thefederalist.com/2024/04/01/leftists-waste-no-time-in-attacking-legacy-of-francis-scott-key-after-baltimore-bridge-collapse/

Almost immediately after the Francis Scott Key Bridge fell into the Baltimore Harbor, the vultures of the  left began circling the wreckage, seeing the tragedy as another  opportunity to disparage and rewrite America’s past. As Rohm Emanual stated “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” So why should this human tragedy be any different.

The bridge’s namesake, the famous lawyer-poet Francis Scott Key author of our national anthem “The Star-Spangled Banner” has been in the in the bullseye for anti-American revisionist historians for several years. With the destruction of the bridge, the left again  resumed its effort to erase Key’s memory from our national consciousness as a part of its endless crusade against notable figures in American history because of a perceived connection to the institution of Slavery.

Some activists have demanded that the rebuilt bridge drop the Francis Scott Key name altogether, falsely claiming that since Key owned slaves, renaming it after him would be another of America’s “spit-in-the-face insults to Black Americans.” Absurd !

History shows the claims are either not true or seriously misrepresented. The phrase “hireling and slave” had been used in military poems since at least the Revolutionary War to refer to British soldiers, highlighting their servile service to the tyrannical English rule. There is no evidence to suggest Key intended a racial reading of what was, at the time, a familiar phrase. A much more plausible interpretation of “hireling and slave” was that it referred to the mercenary forces hired by England and to the fact that the British navy quite literally would enslave foreign sailors and force them to fight — this was even one of the primary causes leading to the War of 1812.

To assert that “The Star-Spangled Banner” disparaged black slaves is factually incorrect and historical revisionism par excellence. Beyond the national anthem’s text, Key was well known as an active anti-slavery proponent. For over 40 years, he regularly represented enslaved African Americans in court pro bono, successfully winning freedom for hundreds of men, women, and children.

As Key continued to argue for the legal rights of African Americans, he became notable within Washington, D.C., for his anti-slavery views. In 1835, white laborers incited a riot over race in the capital. Key, who was the district attorney at the time, became a target of the mob, and his house eventually was guarded by armed soldiers because he was “a reputed abolitionist.” Quite a difference than being a “slaver” in the lexicon of the left. 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/defaced-abolitionist-statue/

Like my abolitionist ancestor Matthias Baldwin who statue was defaced by George Floyd protesters once again those on the left have proven they have no knowledge or appreciation of American history and would rather tear it down in their attempt to create their own misguided dystopia than be informed.

In the face of a constant barrage against both our culture and history, let us as Americans stand proudly and in spite of attacks to tear down our flag sing “ O long may it wave!”