U. Maryland Marching Band Drops State Song Over Confederate References
“The song is also getting renewed attention from state lawmakers”
So the song wan’t a problem for years but now, suddenly it’s toxic? Every progressive trend seems to become law overnight.
The Baltimore Sun reports:
University of Maryland band nixes Confederate state song, could lawmakers be next?
The University of Maryland marching band said Monday it would drop its longtime practice of playing the state song before football games.
“Maryland, My Maryland” — set to the tune of the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum” — is the latest pro-Confederacy expression to come under fire in Maryland in the wake of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., this month. The song includes nine verses that served as a bloody call to action against President Abraham Lincoln and the “northern scum.”
Lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for years to change the song, either by rewriting the lyrics or scrapping it entirely. Two years ago, the General Assembly asked the state archives to convene an advisory committee to examine the song; the panel urged lawmakers to revise or replace the song.
Now the Mighty Sound of Maryland, the marching band of the state’s flagship university, has abandoned it. University spokeswoman Katie Lawson said the band decided to suspend playing the controversial tune to “evaluate if it is consistent with the values of our institution at this time.”
The song is also getting renewed attention from state lawmakers, who predicted they would revisit it when the General Assembly returns to work in January.
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Comments
No, it’s been a problem for a very long time. As the article you are quoting says, “Lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for years to change the song, either by rewriting the lyrics or scrapping it entirely”. And with good cause. It’s almost inconceivable that any other country would ever have allowed a state to adopt such a song in the first place; it’s a tribute to the first amendment that in the USA a state can openly declare its disloyalty to the Union and there’s nothing the federal government can do about it. But the fact that it’s legal doesn’t make it right. It’s been wrong since 1939, and it’s high time it was changed.