October 18, 2017

Marching Band Walks Off Field During National Anthem

Ames High School has the unfortunate distinction of having one of the most un-American marching bands in the nation.

Ames High School has the unfortunate distinction of having one of the most un-American marching bands in the nation.

More than a dozen members of the band linked arms and walked off the football field Friday night during a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” An untold number of other band members refused to play their instruments.

It was absolutely disgraceful. Sickening.

The children who staged the musical insurrection told local reporters they did so to protest all sorts of social maladies.

“How can we be unified if there’s racism, sexism and homophobia in our school?” one of the teenage malcontents told the Des Moines Register.

They denied they were disrespecting the flag or the military even though they really were disrespecting the flag and the military.

“It was an expression of my anger and sadness in the direction our country is heading,” one of the budding anarchists told the newspaper. “It’s to express I stand with people who are feeling persecuted or marginalized by the current president or people in power.”

There are two issues that need to be addressed.

First, the school district must deal swiftly to put down this anti-American uprising within the marching band. Those students who chose not to play and those who marched off the field should be immediately removed from the roster.

School leaders must not coddle or tolerate a bunch of petulant and belligerent children dishonoring the U.S. military or the national anthem.

The school’s band director declined to comment so we do not know if he had prior knowledge of the protest. Regardless, it is clear the band director does not have control over his program. And the principal clearly does not have control over the school.

The Ames Tribune reports that the students originally intended to take a knee on the field, but Principal Spence Evans rejected that plan.

The newspaper reports the principal told them to stay in the band section if they chose not to play. Oh, so the principal knew about this in advance? Well, that should be an easy decision for the taxpayer-funded school district — fire the principal.

The school district needs to send a clear message to the student body and the taxpayer-funded employees — there are consequences for disobeying the rules. If that means disbanding the marching band, so be it. If that means firing the employees, so be it.

Second, the parents who allowed their children to publicly dishonor America must also be held accountable. What kind of a person raises their kids to hate America? Why didn’t parents snatch their kids by the ear and drag them out of that stadium?

What happened in Ames, Iowa, should be a wake-up call to the nation. One minute these little anarchists-in-training are wielding trombones, and the next minute they’re wielding baseball bats and burning down city blocks.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.