What's the Humbub, Bud?

There's been much pontificating on all sides of the issue regarding the National Anthem being sung in Spanish lately, all a distraction from The War in Iraq to the price of gas.

Yet no one is advocating that the National Anthem officially be sung in Spanish, it would be counter intuitive to American culture and identity, something that I am not in favor of at all.

BUT

That being said, I don't have a problem with the song, music is an art form that sometimes forces us to look at an issue and peel the layers of the issue back, like an onion. 

Of course there will be rabid reactionaries on both sides but for Pete's sake the US Constitution is translated into Spanish by the US Federal Government here.

CONSTITUCION DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
1787

 

          NOSOTROS, el Pueblo de los Estados Unidos, a fin de formar una Unión más perfecta, establecer Justicia, afirmar la tranquilidad interior, proveer la Defensa común, promover el bienestar general y asegurar para nosotros mismos y para nuestros descendientes los beneficios de la Libertad, estatuimos y sancionamos esta CONSTITUCION para los Estados Unidos de América.

I wonder if the Constitution was translated into German, Italian, or Russian for newly emigrated immigrants back in the day when Ellis Island was open and the Statute of Liberty beckoned all who came with these words:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Ahhh the good ole days but I digress.  What better way for a newly emigrated immigrant to learn the foundation on which this country stands on?  In their own language and in the correct colloquial context so that it is understood.  It would be the first step in assimilation and learning English.

The US Constitution is an amazing document that inspires me every time that I read it and it gives me those spine tingling shivers of pride and awe that the founders were wise enough to not distinguish between race, religion, or language. 

What's really interesting is the way that race and race baiting falls into the singing of the National Anthem in Spanish and  Texas State Representative Aaron Pena point's this out on his blog

Ten percent of the Minutemen's 8,000 members are Hispanic, according to Al Garza. If you remember Al Garza is the former Texas president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He is now the group's second-in-command, to one of the nation's most prominent Hispanic anti-immigration activists. Garza is featured in a Houston Chronicle story about Hispanic Minutemen and is quoted as saying:

"This has nothing to do with race," said Garza, who was born in Raymondville in South Texas. "Anyone that has any racial agenda is not wanted in our group."

Now this is a very interesting dynamic that we have here or as Rep. Pena put it "the subtle complexities of the immigration argument."  If there's not anything wrong with a Mexican-American from South Texas being the second in command of the Texas Minute Man Project and the most prominent anti-immigrant activist then there should be no sense of wonder or outrage that the National Anthem could be sung in English.

The subtle differenes are so becasue we the people never stop to learn the otherside of an issue or truly understand that cultural identity trumps that which brings us together.

 

Hat tip to the Rep. for the pic.

Comments

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Terrific photo. I agree 100% about the national anthem.