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Statue of Francis Scott Key in Baltimore vandalized with graffiti

Graffiti calls national anthem racist
Posted at 1:49 PM, Sep 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-13 14:37:10-04

Wednesday morning people in Baltimore found the Francis Scott Key statue vandalized. 

According to a photographer at the statue, it was spray painted from the sidewalk to the top its columns. 

Francis Scott Key was a lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland. His poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry" eventually became the United State's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"Racist anthem" was spray painted on the statue. Though it is rarely sung, the song's third verse does contain a reference to slavery.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the graffiti appeared on the statue exactly 203 years after Key wrote the poem that inspired the national anthem.