But some counter that translation. In his book, “What So Proudly We Hailed,” by Marc Leepson to understand the duality of Key. “Perhaps the most notable aspect of Key’s character was his advocacy for African Americans, whose cases he accepted free of charge. Many of them involved free blacks who were hijacked into slavery, as depicted in the film ‘Twelve Years a Slave.’ He won many of those cases. But he was also a slaveholder and an outspoken opponent of abolition. He was a leader of the American Colonization Society, which sought to send free men and women of color ‘back’ to Africa, where few, if any, of them had ever been.” Or there’s Britain’s practice of kidnapping American soldiers and “impressing” them into slavery in service on the ships and they used to hire German Hessians as mercenaries which explains “hirelings.”
Whether you decide to stand or not at the next playing of the national anthem is your choice. But it is always important to look at history when looking for solutions to problems of today.