The famous Rushingbrook Children’s Choir traveled to Washington, D.C. from South Carolina on last Friday, May 26th. They had, when they visited the Capitol, both a scheduled tour of the Capitol planned and prior approval to sing a couple patriotic songs in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. But, instead of their national feeling and beautiful singing being welcomed in the Capitol, they were told to stop singing.
Apparently, the children’s choir’s singing of the National Anthem was considered a “demonstration,” which is why they were stopped despite SC Congressmen Joe Wilson and William Timmons having helped them get prior approval to sing in Statuary Hall. Watch the horrific incident below:
VIDEO: The moment a children's choir singing at the Capitol was told to stop singing the National Anthem during the 2nd verse. They had been given permission to sing prior to a higher up deciding our nation's anthem in our nation's capitol was offensive.
pic.twitter.com/PF466PkA3Z— @amuse (@amuse) June 2, 2023
Micah Rea, the organizer of the trip, insisted that the children had permission to sing there, saying, “We set it up, email was approved in the Speaker’s office with three Congressional offices.”
Continuing, Rea added that Speaker McCarthy gave permission for them to sing and Capitol police officers who knew they had permission to sing came with them, saying, “We had Capitol Hill Police come up to us and Sergeant on Arm’s office and then also the Speaker’s office. And the Speaker’s office tells us via the phone, that the speaker’s office is okay with the singing. Go ahead with it.”
Emphasizing the point that the Capitol Police knew and were okay with the singing, Rea said, “And then I have a Capitol security guy telling me it’s okay, here’s my card. Go ahead and start singing. If anybody comes up to you, just let ’em know. Here’s my card.”
David Rasbach, the director of the children’s choir, said that they were ordered to stop both because it was considered a demonstration and because some might find it offensive. As he put it: “And she [the Capitol police officer] said ‘we can’t let you continue.’ I said, ‘why not?’ And she said, ‘this is considered a demonstration, and we don’t allow demonstrations inside the Capitol.‘ I said, ‘This is not a demonstration. This is simply a group of children singing the National anthem.”’And she said, ‘Well, that’s considered a demonstration. We can’t allow you to continue.’ And I said ‘you’re telling me that a group of children can’t sing the National Anthem in their own Capitol?’ And she said, ‘That’s right.’ And then she said something, ‘it might offend or it might be offensive to some.'”
Congressman William Timmons, in a tweet about the incident, said, “We recently learned that schoolchildren from South Carolina were interrupted while singing our National Anthem at the Capitol. These children were welcomed by the Speaker’s office to joyfully express their love of this Nation while visiting the Capitol, and we are all very disappointed to learn their celebration was cut short. We are delighted that the People’s House has been reopened particularly for our children and we look forward to welcoming more Americans back to the halls of Congress. Additionally, the South Carolina delegation has offered to cover all expenses to return them to the Capitol to sing the national anthem wherever they please.”
The Capitol police, for their part, said in an email statement to the Daily Signal that the children did not have permission to sing and the members of Congress were lying, saying, “because the singers in this situation were children, our officers were reasonable and allowed the children to finish their beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.” Continuing, the statement went on to say, “The Congressional staff member who was accompanying the group knew the rules, yet lied to the officers multiple times about having permission from various offices. The staffer put both the choir and our officers, who were simply doing their jobs, in an awkward and embarrassing position.”
A GoFundMe was created for the group. It says, in part, “Each individual involved had invested personal time and made financial sacrifices to be present on that special day and take part in this momentous celebration. We express our gratitude to the Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Congressman Joe Wilson, Congressman William Timmons, and Congressman Russell Fry. They have shown tremendous support by issuing a joint statement, expressing their profound disappointment that the warm welcome arranged by the Speaker’s office fell short of celebrating the profound love our group has for this great Nation.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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