Washington Post takes aim at ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ writer Francis Scott Key after namesake Baltimore bridge collapse

The Dali, a 984-foot Singapore-flagged cargo ship carrying 764 tons of hazardous materials and debris, some of which has been located up to 50 feet deep, reportedly lost power while transitioning out of Baltimore Harbor and struck the bridge at about 1:27 am Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The bridge, a nearly 2-mile critical artery in East Coast shipping, crashed into the Patapsco River within seconds.

Local, state, and federal officials established a Unified Command in response to the collapse. On Thursday, the command announced it had paused dive operations and vehicle recovery due to hazardous conditions in the river from the wreckage. Some bodies have been recovered but many have not. Human beings died. Hazardous materials spilled into the water after a huge ship lost power and crashed into a major bridge.

On Wednesday, however, the Washington Post decided that there was a more important discussion to be had. You see the bridge collapse and the deaths and the horror and thee economic impact don't translate to racial injustice, inclusivity or reparations and that simply would not suffice for the newspaper darling of the leftist gestapo. And so it followed that the Washington Post frankensteined together their own special contribution to the annals of history that will one day recount the tragedy.

The issue here was the man who the bridge was named after, one Francis Key Scott. This was the real meat of the story, the rest just gristle and unsavory bits to be butchered out by WaPo the Woke.

And so by Wednesday, the Washington Post's London correspondent Annabelle Timsit had penned an article titled "Who was Francis Scott Key, controversial poet the bridge is named after?"

Francis Scott Key is best known for writing the poem that became America's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." He wrote the lyrics the morning after an 1814 British attack on Fort McHenry, which is right by the collapsed bridge.

"As The Washington Post previously reported, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' did not become the national anthem until more than a century after it was written because of controversy, partly over Key's racist views," the Post wrote.

"One section of the poem's third verse, in particular, has come under scrutiny from those who say it was intended to mock or threaten African Americans who escaped slavery to join the British forces, after being promised land in exchange for their service," the paper continued.

The verse in question reads, "No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And The Star-Spangled Banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

The Post also reminded readers that Key was a slave owner who opposed abolition and made racist remarks about black people.

However, the paper also acknowledged that critics have pointed out that as a lawyer, Key defended several slaves, and he freed several of his own slaves.

Because of his mixed record on racial issues, monuments to Key have been defaced, and critics have called for institutions named after him to be renamed.

In 2017, vandals defaced the Francis Scott Key Monument in Baltimore with red paint and spray-painted "Racist Anthem" and "blood on his hands."

Investigators are still searching for the remains of the six people who fell in the water at the time of the Key bridge's collapse. The search, as well as the cleanup process, is must be finished before any rebuilding of the bridge begins.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D) toured the area of the destroyed bridge in the rain with the U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday afternoon.

President Biden also addressed the disaster on Tuesday, saying he wants the federal government to pay for the bridge's rebuilding.

Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott found time in what may very well be one of Baltimore's worst disasters in history to appear on MSNBC to chat with Joy Reid.

Joy started out the important interview by introducing Mayor Scott as "having the nerve to be black and also a mayor." Scott then gave his take on white individuals he considers racist: "Me being in this position means that their way of thinking, their way of life of being comfortable while everyone else suffers, is at risk. And they should be afraid because that's my purpose in life."

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that was a threat, Mr. Mayor.