Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Topeka, were among lawmakers lending their names in recent days to resolutions calling for the national anthem and Pledge of Allegiance to be sung and recited, respectively, only in English. That will make sense to most Americans. “To do otherwise undermines our symbols of national unity and discourages people from learning our common language” is how Ryun put it.
But the issue isn’t as clear-cut as many would like. It turns out that the U.S. government commissioned a Spanish-language version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1919. There also are four separate Spanish-language versions of the national anthem on a State Department Web site, and some German ones available at the Library of Congress. And both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush signaled that they don’t have a problem with the “Nuestra Himna” version of the national anthem. Besides, don’t we have bigger issues to work through — such as immigration reform itself?
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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43 Comments
Well how can we possibly work out an immigration policy without a healthy dose of xenophobia first?
Jed,
Why don’t we have our anthem sung in urdu, swahili, and arabic, etc? We have all manner of useless third worlders here so why discriminate in favor of non-white “latinos” only? That sounds waycist to me me!
V.L.R.B!!
I was never aware of all of the restrictions on being patriotic. First you MUST be a republikan, everyone else is a freedom hating, terrorist loving, driving without a seatbelt liberal. Secondly you have to speak English. If you don’t then you obviously fall into the second category above.
It is a good thing we have overpaid senators and representatives to tell us these things or we would probably do something crazy like remember we were once a country that welcomed the diversity of its citizens and residents and turned that into an advantage that put us tops in the world in every respect.
Singing the National Anthem in any language is okay by me. Since 2/3’s of the population of this country don’t know the words, and 1/2 of those don’t know the name, does it really make a difference what language it’s sung in?
First we got the “don’t burn the flag” crowd, when the flag is only a symbol, and protesting is a right. Now we got the “only in my language” crowd, looking for votes.
I think there are way more important things to worry about than what language to sing the national anthem in. Get a life, people.
Racial diversity is a CURSE not a blessing!
Viva La Raza Blanco!!!
If ilegalls had only translated the verbatim lyrics of the national anthem. That would have been offensive enough.
They re-wrote the lyrics.
I think that speaks to their agenda.
On this one I must stand against the majority, yes the flag is a symbol, a rallying point. from when the first United States flag was made to the day after 9-11. From the moment that those embattled Marines looked up from the beach and saw it flying over Iwa-Jima. We are a diverse nation made up of people from Europe, Latin America, the near East and the far east. Every corner of this planet has someone that calls themselves an American. So there has to be a symbol that make them different from those still at those corners. They could recite the Constitution I guess, or walk about proclaiming all that being an American is and once was. The reasons why they are no longer at that corner or why their grand great father or mother forsake that corner of the planet to come to America.
They could leave it alone, right now in this time period there are places it would be dangerous to be known as an American. To momentarily deny the birthright and proclaim to be any other nationality would be prudent. Here at home it could be hard to really find much to be pride of being an American. We seem to drift daily away from the real meaning of the term to be an American. This country has taken some actions that goes against all that symbol stands for. And that symbol has lost some of the core that made it more than a sewn pieces of cloth. As any symbol is really, the Bible is nothing more then a book , a collection of paper that has been bounded if not for the faith that holds it dear.
It is faith, the believe that gives any symbol meaning and when someone burns the flag they too are using it as a symbol to burn everything that the flag stands for. They are giving it power, what they do to that symbol they are really wishing to do to this country. Of course in the end all they have really did was burn a sewn piece of cloth. But for them it was the intent that counted anyway, what they really meant to do.
The same goes for the National Anthem, for it too is a symbol something that said who we are and what it means to call oneself an American. Announcing to the world that this is who we are and where we stand, otherwise it is just a bunch of words set to a musical theme. These symbols are like the title on the cover of a book, on the surface to tell everyone who see it what it is all about and what to expect inside. Of course if the ink on the pages inside has been washed away. Blank and without any real mean that title means nothing. So by all means tear that title off, burn it, change it to anything your heart desires. For what that title, that symbol stood for is gone. When destroying a book, two things happen, either the pages are ripped out till all that is left is the cover and its title. Or the first thing to burn is the title and the cover, but either way, what has made that book stand out from any other book is forever gone.
My own feelings about our national anthem are that it’s unsingable while sober and glorifies war. I’d much rather have Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” as our national anthem. Musically, it’s pure American, doesn’t depend on bombs bursting in air and most everybody knows it. Further, I’d like to see it translated into any language that wants it, because it contains the values we at least say we want to promote worldwide.
I agree Jed, and I think there are much more important things to focus on right now. I resent elected officals wasting time on this issue, what the hell difference does it make? Is passing this law going to improve health care access for middle America, resolve the crisis in Iraq, improve our schools, preserve the environment, develop alternative energy sources, or improve life in this country in anyway? Then let’s not waste the time on a non-issue.
Change the national anthem, protest for ‘rights’, enter illegally, etc. All that is just fine, according to lots of people. Consider the following:
If you migrate!1. If you migrate to this county, you must speak the native language.2. You have to be a professional or an investor. No unskilled workers allowed.3. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools, no special ballots for elections, all government business will be conducted in our language.4. Foreigners will NOT have the right to vote no matter how long they are here.5. Foreigners will NEVER be able to hold political office.6. Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers. No welfare, no food stamps, no health care, or other government assistance programs.7. Foreigners can invest in this country, but it must be an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage.8. If foreigners do come and want to buy land that will be okay, BUT options will be restricted. You are not allowed waterfront property. That is reserved for citizens naturally born into this country.9. Foreigners may not protest; no demonstrations, no waving a foreign flag, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our president or his policies, if you do you will be sent home.10. If you do come to this country illegally, you will be hunted down and sent straight to jail.
Harsh, you say? The above laws happen to be the immigration laws of Mexico!
“Change the national anthem, protest for ‘rights’, enter illegally, etc. All that is just fine, according to lots of people.”
Uhm, actually, Rap, I don’t recall anyone actually claiming that it’s ‘okay’ to enter illegally. And is the national anthem something so sacred that it can’t be changed, if the American people so desire? I notice that didn’t matter with the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.
Mexicans immigrants, legal or otherwise, are going apeshit because Congress wants to make it a FELONY.
Personally, I regard the notion of an official song in the same category as the state bird. I wouldn’t favor changing it from a meadowlawk to, say, a jayhawk, but you’d have to make it, say, a crow, for me to really get worked up about it.
Woody Guthrie’s song works for me. I can think of other respectable candidates. I assume “American Woman” wouldn’t qualify. . .
And I thank anyone’s God that America is not Mexico! Even though NAFTA did a good job of muddying that distinction.
What about “America, the Beautiful, with spacious skys …” and so forth. At least its singable by the ordinary person.
As far as I’m concerned, anybody should be able to sing our national anthem, whatever it is, and in whatever language. The more the merrier. It does have international symbolism to most people of the world: basic freedoms, democracy, food on the table, opportunity to earn a basic living by working, opportunity for an education.
Remember one of the repeated lines in Casablanca, “We want to go to America.”
Lets not set up laws that are not enforcable anyway under the guise of patriotism. There are lots more issues out there that need addressing, among which are helping the people of the world to have basic privileges of Americans in their own countries.
Well I’d agree that legislating the language of the national anthem in Congress is probably a waste of time. That time might be better spent addressing the real problem of illegal immigration instead of just a symptom of it.
I too once thought the national anthem was something of a militaristic song. Then I saw on the History Channel the real story of Francis Scott Key and how he came to write it. I’ll not relate that story here. I’m sure it’s avaliable elsewhere. Suffice it to say it is an anthem conceived by a man who watched a desperate, almost impossible struggle play out in front of his eyes. The fate of the nation was literally at stake. I have since then seen the National Anthem with new eyes.
You’re right, once I heard the story behind the song it changed the way I looked at it also.
I heard the story, too, JR, long ago. That “the flag was still there” meant that it–and everything else–hadn’t been blown to hell!
OK, it’s time to get back to reality. Immigration, gay marriage, etc. are issues, yes, but the reason they’re being touted now is that the republicans desperately need for us to be worried about something other than Bush’s many failures and the bankruptcy of the ultraconservative movement.We’ve had our shots at the Mexicans, French and gays. We need to get back to what’s really ailing the country- illegal war, torture, loss of our rights, the wiretapping of America, government by administrative fiat, packing the court system and all the other attempts to subvert the democratic process. Focus, people, focus!
Yes! Leave us alone, and take care of the filth of your own politicos. There shouldn’t even be a border between Mexico and the States!
Ian Santiago,Go make yourself useful to your white masters and make him some more inauthentic “Mexican” food at Taco Bell! Know your place, dog.
and finally, it is nice to know how xenophobia has so easily gripped the American people so much so that they must make themselves out to be hypocrites concerning their “multi-cultural” society. If a song sung in Spanish can so easily stir up the hornet’s nest, what do you think the Anglo is going to do to us when his government makes immigrant workers into felons?
General,The reason there’s a border is because your namesake made sure there was one!
It turns out that the U.S. government commissioned a Spanish-language version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1919.
If AMericans didn’t have a problem with the national Anthem sung in Spanish then, why do they all of a sudden care about it now??Oh yeah, it’s necessary as a propaganda tool by the government owned Fucks News Network to stir up anti-Hispanic sentiment in hopes of garnering public support in starting another Operation Wetback!
Jed,That was only to stop the incursions of your Anglo criminal military ancestors from invading our lands! But then your Anglo government has a habit of ignoring the sovereignty of nations don’t they?
Gen.,When it suits their purposes, just like most every other country.Ambrose Bierce defined a cannon as “an instrument used for the rectification on national boundaries.” That was shortly before he rode off to join Villa’s revolution at the age of 95.
General
“If a song sung in Spanish can so easily stir up the hornet’s nest, what do you think the Anglo is going to do to us when his government makes immigrant workers into felons?”
I haven’t heard anyone call for “immigrant workers into felons”. But I do support ILLEGAL aliens being arrested as felons.
Whatever. You may have many of my Hispanic brothers and sisters fooled by your land of the free rhetoric, but you can’t fool me or the Nation of Aztlan. When seeking an acceptable example of the American people, one would need to look no further than President George W. Bush. He exemplifies every commonality that the Anglo-Americans share, namely: ignorance, slothfulness, and proneness to violence.
Guy from up north,The only people who came here illegally were your Anglo immigrant ancestors who spread their European diseases among my people and put them into concentrated reservations so that your ancestors could steal there land, game, and natural resources within! If you seem to push the legal argument that ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS AND THEIR ANCHOR BABIES should be deported, then it would only be in the sole interests of justice that your Anglo ancestors be sent back to whatever stinking cesspool of Europe from which you and your ancestors came from!
NEXT!!!
Gen.,True, so true, but that was generations ago. History can’t be undone. If we’re going to nurse grudges for that long, we’re never going to solve the problems that plague us both today.
Well, Heneral Refried Beans,while I doubt your ancestry, I would remind you anyway that Mexico SOLD all the land we claim as much of the United States. We BOUGHT it. Your country then, as now, only wants US Pesos. Your country SOLD OUT. When you illegally into this country, you are doing so because your country is too crooked to support its own people. You don’t make a good spokesperson for whatever country you slunk out of, let alone this one. Go buy a green card and get a job.
Walker,”Go get a green card and get a job.”Typical rhetoric of the Anglo who built the present American Empire from stealing other people’s lands and assassinating leaders of governments who are not in sync with Anglo-American interests!
GeneralThroughout this earth’s history, nations have conquered other nations. It has been established that the conquering nation has the right to rule the conquered nation.The USA conquered the American Indian Nations. Why should they give them back?
Up North,Does that mean we’re keeping Iraq?
GuyFromUpNorth,DOn’t give me that only the strong survive nonsense! Just because in the past people killed and enslaved other people and stole their land doesn’t make it okay for other people to do the same and claim that their actions are justified when they commit the same atrocities! We descendants of natives and Spaniards are not killing your Anglo families and retaking the lands you stole from us. We are just fighting for the right to coexist unmolested by your Anglo government federalis. Is that too much to ask from a people who committed mass-genocide? I don’t think our demands are that extreme.
Actually GSA, it was the Conquistadors of Spain and they basically wiped out the native population and it is more present in Mexico and all of Latin America than anywhere else.
You’re Spanish heritage are just the same if not worse than your complaint of Anglos taking over land. You did the same thing.
Even today. Why is there no dialouge between the Mexican people and the government with the Natives who have always been in Mexico.
General nuisance,
“Your” people have no pride. They flee their nation rather than fix it. They work for wages no one else will. They do so happily. They are little above slaves and that is the only thing they will fight for!
The defiantly proud slave! What a concept!
General Coconut,
Stop using the word “hispanic” and use the terms negro, mullato, indio and mestizo. We White Spanish want nothing to do with your useless hordes, race matters!
AR News Exclusive, May 5, 2006
Dear Mr. Taylor,
I thoroughly enjoyed your latest interview with crazy Mexican, Dr. Jose Gutierrez.
Please note that I did not call Gutierrez a “Hispanic” and I sincerely hope to see that term disappear from your vocabulary as well.
True … it is a legal term and one used by the US government … but it is not advantageous to the political goals of white nationalism and its use masks the real problem (a problem pro-amnesty leaders don’t want you to recognize).
The term “Hispanic” is simply too broad. There is as much racial and cultural difference among “Hispanics” as there is among “Europeans” or “Americans.” You certainly have little in common with Al Sharpton, yet you are both “American.” Likewise, I have absolutely nothing in common with Jose Gutierrez, yet we are both “Hispanic.”
Cubans are an excellent example of this principle. The Cubans who emigrated here in the early 1960s were politically motivated to flee a communist dictatorship. Many were wealthy, highly educated or employed by American corporations. (If they were none of those things, they were at least intelligent enough to see what was coming.) Since then, wave after wave of Cuban urban poor and peasants (campesinos) have reached Miami. To lump these two distinct groups together under the term “Hispanic” is a tactical error. It simply dismisses the first group, most of who are culturally white-European, have assimilated well and are potential allies … allies we can’t afford to squander.
I would argue that it’s not “Hispanics” responsible for the vast illegal immigration, high medical costs, high illegitimacy rates, high crime and huge increase in youth gangs … but the wretched Mexican and Central American peasants who are flooding into the country while the best and brightest of those nations stay home.
Although up-to-date statistics are not available, the 2000 Census showed that there were 35 million Hispanics living in the US. Of these, 4% were from South America, 4% from Cuba and 2% from Spain and the Canary Islands. Another 10% were Puerto Rican.
That means that the remaining 80% were from Mexico and the other countries of Central America. And, let me emphasize, this is six-year old data. We know that the flow of mostly-illegal immigrants from Mexico has exploded in the last six years.
To really understand just how concentrated the Mexicans/Central American immigrants are, we have to look at where they come from and where they go once they get here.
Most of the immigration from Central America comes from the small countries on the southern Mexican border: Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These countries along with the dense pockets of poverty in rural southern Mexico, make up an area of only 700,000 square miles or about the size of Alaska. Relatively speaking, it’s a very small area of concentrated poverty and misery.
These people are 60% Mestizo (Amerindian-Spanish), 30% Amerindian, and about 10% white.
Not only is the Hispanic population in the US primarily from this one very poor region of the world, but this group remains highly concentrated once it gets here. Over 72% live in the southwest (California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico). Almost 75% of these recent arrivals have lived in the US less than 20 years.
So what’s really going on here?
What pro-amnesty leaders want us to believe is that we’re seeing a re-awakening of the civil rights movement, only this time based on “Hispanics.”
But what we are really seeing is a political and economic power grab by disenfranchised Mestizo and Amerindian lower classes. This is the War With Mexico, Part 2. This is class struggle with socialist undertones mixed with a 170-year old nationalistic blood feud between Mexicans and Americans.
True, there are other “Hispanics” supporting the Mexicans, but the unifying political theme is Chicano-ism (with a dash of Mexican nationalism thrown in). In fact, if Mexicans like Gutierrez were to achieve everything they wanted, I sincerely doubt that many of their “Hispanic” supporters would be welcome in their new nation—any more than Guatemalans are welcome in Mexico today.
Gutierrez wants you to think in terms of “gringo versus Hispanics.” He wants to invoke “Pan-Hispanicism” on the side of his Mexican nationalism. Heck, he’d welcome little green space aliens on his side if they were available!
So let’s stop falling for the political spin and manipulation of socialists and slick Mexicans who hate America. Divide and conquer. Let’s call these people what they are: A disaffected lower class of Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, El Salvadorans, Mestizos, Aztecs and other Indians.
There are millions of Spanish-speaking whites opposing the Mexican invasion. Why cede these opponents to them? Why portray greater support than they have? Why create the impression that all Spanish-speaking people are marching in step with Mexican nationalism? By eliminating the term “Hispanic” as a nomenclature, you slice away support from people like Gutierrez and you unmask the ugly nationalistic motivations of this “pro-amnesty” movement.
I have carefully reviewed the transcript of your Gutierrez debate and substituted the term “Mexican” wherever you used the term “Hispanic.” It fits very nicely.
Instead of titling the debate: “Hispanicization: Good or Bad for America?”
Let’s call it “Mexicanization: Good or Bad for America?”
Sincerely,
Joe Diaz
Joe Diaz is a Cuban-born, retired Army officer with a Master’s Degree in Intenational Relations focused on National Military Strategy.http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2006/05/a_cuban_reader.php
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!Deportacion Total!!!
The differences between idealogues and pragmatists…
The idea that over 300 million “Anglos” are going to return to the European or Asian ‘cesspools’ from which they came is such an non-starter that it’s ludicrous. Taking such a position is an indication that the speaker really has no desire or intention to look for a solution that is acceptable, if not satisfactory, to all.
The idea that America was an idyllic land of aboriginal peoples living in a perfect harmony of trade, peace, and love is just a huge distortion of history. Cortes arrived with only a few hundred conquistadores. He recruited tribes hostile to the Aztecs in his march towards Tenochtitlan. It was an Indian army led by Spanish ‘officers’ that overthrew the despised Aztecs.
The same was true for many of the ‘European’ conquests in the Americas. If it were not for the already existing hatreds among tribes and ethnic groups no small European expeditions could have accomplished the conquest of the Americas.
And it is an unfortunate fact that man’s political organizations are based on military strength and conquest. Internal weaknesses in countries today are taken advantage of in the same way that those same weaknesses were 1,000 or even 10,000 years ago.
Rather than standing on the rubble of ancient civilizations ‘wronged’ by their conquerors, it’s time to step back and do what’s right for the ethnic and social situation we have NOW.
If, in Mexico, those of native blood are being wronged by the government then DO something to chnge THAT government. If the government and corporations of the United States have been complicit in the immigration situation we have today, then OFFER some practical solutions.
The Romans used to grant citizenship to non-citizens who served in the legions for twenty years. they also received a parcel of land in an outlying province and a retirement grant. This led to a ‘Romanization’ of the wilder parts of the empire and developed a cadre of citizens with military experience devoted to their new homes and country.
Perhaps we could offer a similar ‘deal’ to ‘illegals’ now. They’re here not only for the work, but also for the hope that the ideals of the American Enlightenment have offered over the centuries. Military service or some other form of civil contribution to American society for a period of years, with all the attendant benefits of health care, education, and finally, US citizenship, seems a ‘fair trade’ to me.
In the meantime, pan-American efforts to stem the flow of peoples via illegal channels should be undertaken…everything from punishing abusive employers of illegals to economic development of South and Central America (’fair trade’ coffee is just one small step towards providing a decent living for all).
Yeah, it would nice to actually talk about the issues, rather than irrelevant grousing about national anthems and 200-year-old greivances, wouldn’t it? I’ve heard of the fair coffee initiative, and think it’s a good idea.
If people think illegal immigrants are a drain on the economy now, just wait until they get the bill for the felony pri$on sentences.
Well general. Glad to see you finally learned to spell Santa Anna’s name.
Santa Anna was a great man as Mexicans go. Too bad someone like you disgraces his name by using it. A real Mexican would understand that…..
I think you’re a phoney.
JR,One could say the same thing about your Pilgrim refugees! You obviously take great pride for Plymouth Rock but then you turn hypocrite when you say we can’t do the same thing! Hypocrite.Brian,Neither is it practical to deport 12-14 million Hispanics in one fell swoop. However, I shall reiterate what another one of you posted on another blog with a bit of a twist: How do we deport millions of Anglos? One boat at a time.Ian,Actually, we have a great deal of solidarity with the Spanish descendants. What with some light-skinned Hispanics siding with the Anglo, well let’s just say that they despise their own culture and heritage and are in need of a reality check especially when they work against their own people securing a better life for themselves. Then again, this is usually a case between the haves and have-nots. Remember that Mexico broke away from Spain because we were tired of being abused by the Peninsular Spaniards, and right now, many Hispanic Americans are becoming fed up with the bullshit of the Gringos.
Poser.
Signor,
You’ll note I suggested a method for current immigrants in violation of the law to become citizens. I see that the only position acceptable to you is a non-starter. I guess you thought the separation of the Indian subcontinent into India, pakistan, and Bangladesh via the forced deportation of millions was a good thing. Sigh…you need to eat some more panocha and chill out.
Señor Tedious,
At first I found your act quite amusing. It was great, shoving the anti-immigrant sentiments right back in their faces! I just sat back and watched.
Alas, I think your act has outlived its usefulness. People are actually sort-of taking you seriously, as an intellectual exercise if nothing else.
General
The Pilgram Refugees were welcomed by the native American indians and see where it got them.
If we keep welcoming the illegals from south of the border, we will experience the same fate.