Jon Batiste and the National Anthem
A Naturalized Citizen Perspective
I’d never seen it before, and it does not compare to God Save Our Gracious King in Britain.
It was September 1999. I had been granted a visa to relocate my family from Britain to America. One month in, I was captured by baseball spectators representing both teams standing with their hand – and in many cases a baseball cap – covering their heart and singing the Star-Spangled Banner. Truly captivating, and with a hint of eschatology where all people of different backgrounds stood together singing together.
Where did this unifying song come from that everyone seemed to know without referring to a song sheet, and what did it mean? The first question is easy to trace but the second question is not so easy.
On August 24, 1814, the British had set fire to the White House. On the morning of September 13 that same year, an attorney and amateur poet named Francis Scott Key was aboard the British ship Tonnant negotiating the release of his friend William Beanes. He watched American soldiers bombarded by the British Royal Navy – my ancestors.
Historians call it the War of 1812 (lasting to 1814) with the British – again, my ancestors. What Key saw was nothing short of remarkable. Under bombardment, Americans raised their 30x42 ft garrison flag[1] over Fort McHenry in Baltimore. From the ramparts, they definingly let the British know that their flag was still there. Did I mention the British are my ancestors?
Words came quickly to Key’s mind. Reaching into his pocket for a letter, he wrote on the back:
Say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly, yeah, streaming?
What a glorious sight that must have been. American soldiers holding fast against the British Royal Navy– and yes, you guessed it, they were my ancestors. On September 20, two Baltimore newspapers published Key’s words that spread along the east coast. By October 1814, a total of 19 newspapers had published his words.
The music of John Stafford Smith (1775) was adopted from his score To the Anacreon in Heaven to carry the words of Key. Ironically, the music had been popular among British men’s clubs in London.
By the 1890’s American military had begun to raise the flag at reveille (dawn) and lower it at retreat (sunset) to the sound of the Star-Spangled Banner. By 1916, President Woodrow Wilson declared it to be a national anthem by executive order. Its theme was so captivating that the Star-Spangled Banner made its debut on September 1, 1918, at the first World Series game between the Chicago Bears and Boston Red Sox. Now, it is a pre-game tradition. This is what I witnessed back in September 1999.
Now to Jon Batiste and his performance of the national anthem[2] at the 59th Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, and to the second question that is not so easy to answer: what does this unifying song mean?
Some say it means national pride, freedom, unity, and liberty. Others say it has racist undertones as Francis Key was not an abolitionist and continued to keep slaves. Still others say it is too nationalist for the people and too war mongering thereby a difficult thing for the diversity of today’s Americans to sing. In short, it represents an historical moment that does not represent today.
The 59th Super bowl marks the 26 years I have lived in America. During this time, I had long transitioned from a visa to permanent residence (green card), and finally a citizen of the United States of America. However, what has never moved are my historical roots in Britain – the people that marched against the independence of America from the rule of King George III, sacking Washington, setting fire to the White House, and the bombardment in Baltimore.
You would have thought that listening to Batiste sing the Star-Spangled Banner would have aroused all kinds of historical offense in me. I don’t think it is racist, war mongering, or a misrepresentation of today’s America. Nevertheless, Batiste sang the words of Key about the resilience of Americans defying the British Royal Navy by raising an enormous flag to say, “We are still here!”
And the rockets' red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave
I was not offended in 1999, and I am still not offended in 2025. I took an oath in becoming a citizen that concluded, “I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.” I also received a letter from President Bush,
“You have sworn a solemn oath to this country, and you share in its privileges and responsibilities…I encourage you to be involved in your community and to promote the values that guide us as Americans: hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism…You are now part of this precious history…we embrace you as a citizen of our land, and we welcome you into the American family.”
The beauty of being a naturalized American is that I got to take the Oath of Allegiance that natural born Americans do not. Military personnel take the Oath of Enlistment with a similar theme, but it’s not the same, neither is the Pledge of Allegiance. So, when Batiste sang the Star-Spangled Banner the last thing on my mind was offense, protest, or any other kind of activism like a scolded child crying about the resolve of Americans in Baltimore over 200 years ago.
It reminds me, albeit specifically against my ancestors, that being American has privileges and responsibilities. I hold both equally and seriously. Though I am not compelled to do so, when the Star Spangled-Banner is sung at an event I am attending, I will stand, remove my hat if I’m wearing one, place my hand over my heart and sing because I have been welcomed into the American family.
My ancestors were part of American history as the oppressor. However, I am also part of American history as one that has been embraced as a citizen of this land. Therefore, to protest in any way while the national anthem is sung is nothing short of pretending the expulsion of British rule from America offends me today.
I can remember history rightly. But remembering it through the dramatic and heroic words of the national anthem only deepens the oath I have taken. So help me God!
Batiste has a wonderful voice, but his use of New Orleans bounce and hip hop is not my thing. I find it difficult to sing along with that musical style. But maybe that’s my English ancestory speaking!
[1] Sewn by Mary Pickersgill assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured servant contains 15 stars that are 24 inches from point to point. Today, it is displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
[2] 1931 Congress passed a measure making it official – the House of Representatives and the Senate.