The National Anthem, A Way To Bridge The Gap

While debates over the use of the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance have begun to surface over the past 5 years, a recent decision by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to forgo playing the national anthem “before...13 preseason and regular-season games” has caused even more uproar. First, a look at Cuban’s reasoning behind his decision:

"In listening to the community, there were quite a few people who voiced their concerns, really their fears that the national anthem did not fully represent them, that their voices were not being heard. So we've had a lot of conversations about whether or not we should play the anthem. And so during the first preseason game, we decided to not play it and just see what the response was, knowing that we were going to have ongoing conversations about it.”

While league commissioner Adam Silver ultimately shut down this attempt by Dallas to not play the national anthem, I believe it sets a dangerous precedent. Regarding this, an article from the Atlantic about the Mavericks decision stated “playing the “The Star-Spangled Banner” at sporting events has become an empty gesture of patriotism” and that it should be removed because of how “patriotic symbols have been weaponized” to harm people of color. Specifically, the article claims “that the origin story of The Star-Spangled Banner” represents “the nation’s hypocrisy more so than its promise” since the song was written by a slave owner, Francis Scott Key. Furthermore, they claim that the anthem has historically seen more use during times of conflict and was more of a means to garner public support.

Regarding this, while I agree that the anthem has been used to build public support during times of conflict and that it was largely created by a slave owner, I don’t agree that the anthem has been weaponized to target people of color. While nobody would disagree that slavery was a horrific practice, just because the author of the song owned slaves doesn’t make the national anthem a weapon to hurt people of color. People forget that 200 years ago was a different time where numerous countries around the world participated in Slavery. Once again, Slavery is a terrible part of U.S. history that we have to remember and learn from, but to say that the anthem attacks people of color because of its origins seems excessive. Personally, I’d argue that the lyrics of the anthem itself speak volumes behind the true intent of the song. Specifically, when I read “Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” it portrays unity and perseverance as opposed to the segregation and discrimination that the Atlantic claims it exudes. Furthermore, looking at the history of the star-spangled banner, it was made the National Anthem in 1916 toward the end of WWII by Woodrow Wilson in an executive order. Considering the timing, I’d say that the Anthem’s purpose had more to do with bringing people together during a time of war than anything else.

To conclude, I think Adam Silver, surprisingly, did the right thing by reinforcing that the National Anthem will be played before all NBA games. The United States is more divided now than ever before and I really do believe that our flag and National Anthem are something that we could use to bring us together during times of Crisis like Covid. Furthermore, referring to the dangerous precedent I mentioned previously, not playing the Anthem could have a serious effect on American nationalism. Not to be confused with American superiority which is a cocky mentality that serves as a hindrance to globalization, American nationalism inspires bringing our country together as a whole based on our achievements and is something I believe we will need moving forward if we wanna bridge the divide in our country.