‘It represents a future Tulsa Athletic is committed to striving for…’
(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Tulsa Athletic, a semi-pro soccer team, said Wednesday that they will stop singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before games and instead play “This Land is Your Land.”
Tulsa Athletic, a part of the National Premier Soccer League, said the lyrics of the national anthem do not fit the environment that the team wants to foster, Fox News reported.
“After carefully reviewing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’s lyrics and meaning, including the third verse which mentions ‘No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave…,’ Tulsa Athletic came to the decision that the song does not align with the club’s core values,” the team said in a press release.
“While this verse is rarely sung, Tulsa Athletic does not believe ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ represents or unites their diverse players, fans and community,” the statement continued.
The team said they believe Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” better reflects its values.
Guthrie was a communist who sought, like today’s Antifa and Black Lives Matter radicals, to destroy America’s economic, social and political institutions.
The song’s lyrics criticize capitalism and private property.
“One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people —
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me.”
Tulsa Athletic co-owner Sonny Dalesandro commented on the song’s ability to fill the role that “The Star-Spangled Banner” could not.
“We live in a country that allows us to freely speak our voice. We utilize this right as a club to continually try and improve our team and community,” Dalesandro said.
“We believe ‘This Land Is Your Land’ not only captures a powerful patriotic sentiment, but that it does so in a far more inclusive way,” he continued. “The song speaks to this country being built and shared by every person of every race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. It represents a future Tulsa Athletic is committed to striving for.”