Kentucky Derby will play ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ despite criticism

Churchill Downs Racetrack will continue its tradition of playing “My Old Kentucky Home” at the start of the Kentucky Derby despite criticism of the song about American slavery. But the performance of the tune, which is also Kentucky’s state song, will be different than in prior years. Normally, the moment would include fans singing along. In 2020, it will be instrumental only and preceded by a moment of silence and reflection.

The Kentucky Derby, one of the most-watched sporting events in the United States with an average of 15 million television viewers each year, is taking place without fans in attendance after it was postponed in March 2020 because of the covid pandemic. The song will be played by bugler Steve Buttleman, instead the usual University of Louisville marching band. The 100-year tradition of singing the state song of Kentucky has been thoughtfully and appropriately modified.

“My Old Kentucky Home” was written by composer Stephen Foster, a Pennsylvania native, in the 1850s. Its original lyrics tell the first-person tale of an enslaved person being sold down the river from Kentucky to work hard in “the field where the sugar-canes grow”. Later versions tell the same story in third person. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the song as Foster wrote it is actually the lament of an enslaved person who has been forcibly separated from his family and his painful longing to return to the cabin with his wife and children.

Later generations came to associate the song with plantation culture and blackface minstrel shows.

As its original anti-slavery meaning became less apparent over the years, criticism of its performance grew. The second line of the song that contained a racial slur that was repeated multiple times during the tune was changed in the 1980s after Carl Hines, the first African American state legislator to serve Louisville’s 43rd House District, introduced a resolution that would substitute the slur for the word “people”. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the president of Churchill Downs and recommended that they play “My Old Kentucky Home”.

This is a song that goes back to the pre-Civil War period. It used to have some language in it that could have been viewed as racially insensitive, that was dropped out 30 or 40 years ago. It is a very much a part of the state’s culture and tradition and absolutely should be played at the Kentucky Derby. Thousands of demonstrators calling for justice for Breonna Taylor are expected to gather near the Kentucky Derby, replacing the traditional crowds of dapper dandies and women in fanciful hats who will be absent from the stands because of the pandemic.

America’s most famous horse race is scheduled to be run, months after the covid forced a postponement from its traditional May date. But the Kentucky Derby in Louisville could face disruption from protesters seeking to keep the public’s attention on the Taylor shooting case. Taylor was fatally shot March 13th 2020 when police conducted a “no knock” drug raid at her apartment.

Taylor was unarmed, and her supporters have been arguing for months that the police officers involved in the case should be criminally charged in her death. One detective has since been fired in connection with the shooting, which remains under investigation. Marches and rallies in support of Taylor’s family are scheduled for downtown Louisville and for outside Churchill Downs, the racetrack that is home to the legendary horse race that is one of the sport’s three annual Triple Crown events. Crowds gathered in downtown Louisville for what was the 100th day of protests over the Taylor shooting.

Demonstrators pointed at Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Kentucky state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, alleging that they have not done enough to resolve the Taylor case more quickly.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, filed a lawsuit against the city of Louisville and its police department. Walker had fired at officers when they executed the no-knock warrant at Taylor’s home, telling authorities later that he assumed the officers were invaders trying to conduct a robbery. An attempted murder charge against Walker was later dropped.

But Walker alleges in his lawsuit that the charge was meant to silence him and cover up Taylor’s murder. Walker firing his weapon was the action that prompted police to fire the shots that killed Taylor. Supporters of Taylor note, however, that one officer, Detective Brett Hankison, was fired in June 2020 for firing 10 shots during the raid. Neither Hankison nor two other officers, Sergeant Jon Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who allegedly fired shots had faced charges in the case.

Kentucky Derby will be run without spectators because of the covid