...Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave...

O'er the land of the free...

And the home of the brave." - "Star-Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key (1814)

The words above belong to the last verse of our National, and I use that term lightly, Anthem. Land of the free, home of the brave. Land of the free, home of the brave. What do these words mean to me now? As an African-American teenager in 2016, it means absolutely NOTHING.

The so-called "National" Anthem was written in 1814 by Francis Scott-Key, who was a slaveowner. Also, in that time period, Blacks in America were slaves. So how were the United States the "land of the free, and the home of the brave" when at least half of the people that lived there WEREN'T free? How does that even make sense? That's a good question because IT DOESN'T.

Now, let's jump ahead in time to 1877, the tragic end to the Reconstruction period. Rutheford B. Hayes was President of the U.S., there were four Black men in Congress because the Black Congressmen before them were threatened & undermined out of their offices, and now the U.S. is a living hell for people of color because the Ku Klux Klan was initiated & popularized, mainly in the Southern states. Black men are being lynched for breathing too hard around a White (Caucasian) person, especially a White woman, while innocent Black women are victims of forcible rape. (Don't believe me? Wait until the end of this article.) But we are still forced into singing the "National" Anthem.

Let's take another trip in time to the 1950s & '60s. It's the Jim Crow era. We have Lyndon B. Johnson as President, followed by the late John F. Kennedy, who was killed in the middle of his Presidential term. We have Little Rock Nine (1957), the March from Montgomery to Selma (1964), and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But we are still not free. "Fellow" Caucasian neighbors/strangers still hurl micro- and macro-aggressive comments our way. We are still excluded from "exclusive" social groups and housing communities because of the color of our skin. And no matter what the law stated, we are still not free. But are we still forced to sing the "National" Anthem? YES.

Now, let's fast-forward into the present day & time: September 23, 2016. Police brutality/excessive force is going unpunished. Unarmed and/or innocent Black men & women are being shot and killed by racist police officers for NO legitimate reason. Rodney King, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Brown, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castle, Alton Sterling, Terence Crutcher, Keith Scott. They are allAfrican-Americans who have been unjustly shot & killed by police officers who were supposed to protect us. Many other African Americans are being unreasonably apprehended by the police and by citizens of the opposite race, and there isn't a problem with that??? My own ethnicity is being killed off with bullets and injustice, and you want me to sing, "O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave"? I DON'T THINK SO

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Below are some frightening (but unsurprising) statistics about who's lives the police value more.

This image alone is only one example that Black lives do not matter in these United States of America. THEY NEVER HAVE. THEY NEVER WILL. Those racist police officers who have taken "paid administrative leave" for committing a HATE CRIME will continue to do so until they get tired. It's a damn shame that I have to fear for my friends, my family, and MY OWN SELF because of the murders that have occurred in the past year! I AM TIRED. WE, as a race, ARE SICK & TIRED OF THE SAME THING. STOP KILLING US. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. And just like "#AllLivesMatter", BLACK LIVES MATTER TOO.

Best wishes,

Carrington Brown

For more information about the forcible rapes of Black women, please click here.

For the story of Emmitt Till, click here.

To view the video footage of the murder of Terence Crutcher, click here.

To view the video footage of Keith Scott's death, please click here.