A Senate bill was pre-filed on April 20 that would require public K-12 schools to broadcast a performance of the first stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner at least once a week.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen and would be proposed as an Amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 2022. Local boards of education would be required to adopt the policy to sanction the broadcasting of the Star-Spangled Banner once a week.
The bill states that for “over 100 years, The Star-Spangled Banner has served to inspire generations of patriotic Americans, and it is imperative that students have exposure to this history.”
The Star-Spangled Banner has come under controversy in recent years following Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem protesting police brutality of Black people. The third stanza of the song has also been argued to be racist as it states, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave.”
The bill will be heard by the Senate Committee for State Governmental Affairs on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
