The Kentucky Derby tradition of playing “My Old Kentucky Home” will continue despite activists claiming the tune uses controversial language about the black community.
The tune, written by 19th-century songwriter Stephen Foster, is typically performed by the University of Louisville marching band and is accompanied by audience members singing along the words before races commence.
“‘My Old Kentucky Home’ is the State Song of Kentucky. As such, it will be performed prior to the running of this year’s Derby as it has for the past 100 years,” Darren Rogers, Churchill Downs’s senior communications director, told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “The way the song is represented at the Derby is not a social or political statement. We understand that there are complicated discussions surrounding the song that can’t be fully reconciled by this year’s Derby, but we will continue to remain engaged in these discussions as they progress.”
Racial justice protesters condemned the song’s lyrics in 2020, prompting Churchill Downs to adjust some words of the song and add a moment of silence to its conclusion.
Activists at the time were protesting after the death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed during a police no-knock raid at her home in Louisville on March 13, 2020.
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Kingdom Life Center’s Pastor Timothy Findley has been vocal in the calls for justice since Taylor’s death and called on Churchill Downs to make changes.
“If we’re going to do the right thing, if we’re going to do the thing that moves our community forward, moves our city forward, and shows that we have sensitivity to what has happened in the past and a mind to move forward in the future, the song needs to be removed. I don’t even understand why this is such a difficult thing,” Findley told WLKY on Thursday.
“My Old Kentucky Home” is said to be a tune about a slave’s lament. It is “unclear when it became the definitive song for the Kentucky Derby, but some report it was played as early as 1921 for the 47th running,” according to the Kentucky Derby’s website.
The Kentucky Derby is slated for Saturday.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to media services for the event but did not immediately receive a response.
