Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, listens to debate in the Alabama Senate on Feb. 13, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Allen indicated he would add an amendment to expand the requirement to Pre-K. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
An Alabama Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require K-12 public schools to broadcast or perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” at least once a week during school hours.
SB 13, sponsored by. Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, is a constitutional amendment that, if passed by the Legislature, would need approval from state voters.
“We need to have an amendment that can come from the floor, maybe, but the pre-K needs to be added to the piece of legislation. Currently, it says K through 12,” Allen told the Senate Education Policy committee Wednesday morning.
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The bill only requires the first stanza of the song to be broadcast. But Democrats on the committee said that it would require students to be exposed to parts of the song, particularly the third stanza, which critics have said is an attack on Black Americans who escaped slavery by joining the British Army.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, pointed out that parts of the song could offend Black students and families and urged the other senators on the committee to read the third stanza.
“There’s no way that you can require students in general, and African American students in particular, to glorify [slavery],” Smitherman said. “That’s a slap in their face. That’s a slap in their parents’ face.”
Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, said that “a vast majority of our colleagues” may not be aware of the historical context of the lyrics, adding that he was concerned about the erasure of Black history in trying to make this a requirement.
“Americans don’t know American history because of things like this,” Hatcher said.
Smitherman said that is why diversity measures are needed, saying that Republican lawmakers don’t consider the impact some bills have on other groups of people.
“Because it’s not going to cause none to them. Not that they dislike other people. Not that they’re intentionally trying to do something to other people. There’s no sensitivity,” he said.
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, said that she was against proposing this policy as a constitutional amendment.
“We’re talking about adding this as a constitutional amendment,” Figures said. “I’m going to have to vote no on this. I can see you doing, maybe, a statute to require it, but I can’t go along with the constitutional amendment for something like this.”
The bill can now be considered by the Senate. It will need the approval of three-fifths of legislators in the chamber to advance.
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