particular, protests focus on the discussion of slavery (and mercenaries) in the third verse of the anthem, in which some have interpreted the lyrics as condemning slaves that had joined the British in an effort to earn their freedom. Since Kaepernick's protest, other athletes have joined in the protests. In the 2017 season, after President Donald Trump's condemnation of the kneeling, which included calling for players (whom he reportedly also referred to by various profanities) to be fired, many NFL players responded by protesting during the national anthem that week. After the police-involved killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, when the 2020–21 NBA season resumed play in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of players and coaches kneeled during the national anthem through the end of the season. In San Francisco, the statue of Francis Scott Key—the nation's first memorial to the anthem's lyricist Key, a slaveowner—was toppled by protestors on June 19, 2020 and in June 2021 was replaced by 350 black steel sculptures that honor the first 350 Africans kidnapped and forced onto a slave ship headed across the Atlantic from Angola in 1619. California chapter of the NAACP call to remove the national anthem In November 2017, the California Chapter of the NAACP called on Congress to remove "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. Alice Huffman, California NAACP president, said: "It's racist; it doesn't represent our community, it's anti-black." The rarely-sung third stanza of the anthem contains the words "No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave", which some interpret as racist. The organization was still seeking a representative to sponsor the legislation in Congress at the time of its announcement. Media See also "God Bless America" In God We Trust "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which many consider the Black National Anthem References Further reading Ferris, Marc. Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America's National Anthem. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. . . (The letter from Chief Justice Taney tells the history behind the writing of the poem written by Francis Scott Key) Leepson, Marc. What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, a Life. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. . . External links "New book reveals the dark history behind the Star Spangled Banner", CBS This Morning, September 13, 2014 (via YouTube). "Star-Spangled History: 5 Facts About the Making of the National