Obama's Washington: Singing of National Anthem Not Allowed.High School Students Bravely Ignore Orders To Stop Singing
From the Examiner Newspaper: A group of high school students with
the Young America's Foundation were told by park police to stop
singing the national anthem. According to Fox News:
U.S. Park Police confirmed that the students were in violation of federal law and their impromptu performance constituted a demonstration in an area that must remain "completely content neutral."
So singing the national anthem at a monument to a U.S. president is no longer considered "neutral"?
Evan Gassman of the Young America's Foundation was present for the incident and later appeared on Fox to talk about what happened.
Here's Gassman's comment in part from another source:
"They told them to stop singing," said Evan Gassman, a spokesman for the Young America's Foundation. "I was taken aback. You wouldn't expect a display of national patriotism to be censored." ...
The incident occurred on June 25 as students were taking a monument tour of the nation's capital. The decision to sing the national anthem at the memorial was a spur of the moment event, according to Shawn Balcomb, of Richmond Hill, GA.
"We got maybe two lines in and a police officer came over and he was yelling," Balcomb said in a telephone interview. "He quieted us down." Balcomb, 17, said the officer told the group they were being too loud. "I was dumbfounded," he said.
"I didn't realize there was something wrong with singing the national anthem." ...
Instead of doing as they were instructed, Gassman said the students resumed the song - an impromptu form of civil disobedience.