Outcry Over Petition to Change the National Anthem

NASCAR took down the Confederate Flag. Lady A dropped the Antebellum. The Dixie Chick got rid of Dixie. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, Eskimo Pie and Mrs Butterworth are no more. Now there's a petition to change the National Anthem.

The petition claims the Star Spangled Banner contains racism, elitism and even sexism in its third and fourth verses. "These sentiments have no place in the national anthem of a democracy that claims that all men (and women) are created equal."

The third and fourth verse, that are rarely sang or heard:

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?
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.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The National Anthem is actually a poem written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, who many claim was a slave owner. The Star Spangled Banner wasn't officially America's national anthem until March 3rd, 1931.

The petition calls for 'America the Beautiful,' "a timeless anthem that expresses and celebrates the highest of all ideals," to be our new national anthem. Some have even suggested 'Imagine,' by John Lennon, which is a beautiful song, but not anthem material or 'This Land is Your Land,' by Woody Guthrie.

Changing our national anthem isn't sitting well with central New Yorkers who shared their thoughts on our Facebook page.

It isn't sitting well with politicians, celebrities or the American public either.