State song ‘entrenched in racism,’ Oregon lawmakers say. Bill introduced to change it
Oregon lawmakers say the state song is “entrenched in racism” and needs to change, according to a new bill.
More than 100 years ago the Society of Oregon Composers hosted a competition for Oregonians to submit lyrics to create a state song, according to Portland Monthly. The result was “Oregon, My Oregon,” which was adopted as the official state song seven years later, Willamette Week reported.
For more than a decade, lawmakers have talked about changing the song because of its racist lyrics. In 2017, a state representative introduced a bill to change the lyrics, but it/ “died in committee,” Willamette Weekly reported.
In a renewed national conversation about race and reform, lawmakers introduced House Bill 2329 in the 2021 regular session.
“The Legislative Assembly finds that the current state song for the State of Oregon, ‘Oregon, My Oregon,’ has lyrics that are entrenched in racism, that fail to recognize the suffering of Native people who were forcibly removed from this state and that fail to recognize the pain and suffering of Black people who were subject to exclusion laws targeting Black people,” the bill states.
The bill pushes for the process of selecting a new state song to be “inclusive of people of all backgrounds, races and ethnicities who call Oregon home” and that the lyrics be historically accurate.
“The movement to rewrite ‘Oregon, My Oregon’ is just a blip in the battle for racial equity in our state,” Rep. Andrea Salinas, who sponsored the bill, said during a House public hearing, according to KGW.
The bill isn’t the only piece of legislation to push for changes to “Oregon, My Oregon.” Lawmakers also introduced a resolution to replace certain lyrics within the song.
The resolution calls for the opening verse “Land of the Empire Builders, Land of the Golden West; Conquered and held by free men, Fairest and the Best” to be changed to “‘Land of Majestic Mountains, Land of the Great Northwest; Forests and rolling rivers, Grandest and the best.”
Kerry Tymchuk, executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, told Portland Monthly that the first verse of the song is talking about white pioneers who “conquered” Native Americans and Indigenous groups. The line “held by free men’‘ has also been controversial because Black people were banned from settling in Oregon until 1926, according to Willamette Week.
The resolution also hopes to change “Blest by the blood of martyrs” to “Blessed by the love of freedom.”
“What martyrs are they talking about?” Tymchuk told Portland Monthly. “Are they talking about the people who came out here and fought the Native Americans? I mean, they’re certainly not talking about the Native Americans.”
Other states have also pushed to change their state songs. Maryland’s state song called “Maryland, My Maryland” is a “Civil War-era call to arms for the Confederacy,” WJZ reported.
The song opens with “The despot’s heel is on thy shore,” which is a reference to President Abraham Lincoln, The Baltimore Sun reported. Lawmakers have tried to update or replace the song more than 10 times, according to the news outlet.
“Confederate-sympathizing language is not representative of who we are as a state any longer,” House Speaker Adrienne Jones, who became the first Black person to hold the leadership post, told WJZ. “This session, we will pass legislation to repeal the state song so we can better reflect our current values of unity, diversity and inclusion.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 10:21 AM with the headline "State song ‘entrenched in racism,’ Oregon lawmakers say. Bill introduced to change it."