10 Year-Old Protests National Anthem At School Because It’s ‘Racist’, Here’s How School Responded [VIDEO]

by Cassy Fiano | September 16, 2017 2:55 pm

Last year, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick shook the sports world by refusing to stand for the National Anthem. At first, he remained seated, but then began kneeling. His protest took off and other athletes began participating. Kaepernick no longer has a job, but his protest lives on — and not just on the football field.

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10 year-old Skyla Madria refuses to stand for the National Anthem and it’s for one of the same reasons that Kaepernick refuses to stand: because the third verse references slavery. The third verse is seldom heard, but it was still enough to apparently be offensive.

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore/That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion/A home and a Country should leave us no more?” the third verse reads. “Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution/No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave/And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave/O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

“When I heard the third verse of the national anthem, I decided that’s not right and he shouldn’t have wrote that,” Madria said. She also admitted to being inspired by Kaepernick’s protest. Multiple times, she refused to stand when the National Anthem played at her Texas school and officials didn’t appreciate it. ““He told me you should respect my flag, and respect my nation, and you should stand up for this pledge,” Madria said of her coach. “He yelled at me. He sent me to the principal. The principal called my mother and called me disgusting for not standing up.”

Madria’s mother stood behind her, though, and also got activist Quannel X involved. “Why would we ask any African American child or citizen to stand up and honor a flag with an anthem written by a slave owner who promised nothing but turmoil to blacks to the grave?” he asked.

Interestingly, Pearland Independent School District claims that Madria’s mother “initially told campus administrators that the child should stand as well.” It’s not known what made Madria’s mother decide to change her mind and support her daughter’s protest, but whatever the reason, she apparently was able to get national media coverage out of the deal.

For their part, the school district eventually changed their minds and said they would allow Madria to sit out the anthem, releasing a statement saying so:

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Do you think it’s right for her to sit out the National Anthem?

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/race-hustlers/10-year-old-protests-national-anthem-school-racist-heres-school-responded/

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