The right wing is up in arms over a new version of the Star-Spangled Banner written in Spanish. Last week President Bush stated that “the national anthem ought to be sung in English.” Yesterday Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a resolution requiring the Star-Spangled banner to be sung only in English:
That flag and that song are a part of our history and our national identity. … That’s why in 1931 Congress declared the Star-Spangled Banner our national anthem. That’s why we should always sing it in our common language, English.In his press release, Alexander said the Star-Spangled Banner has “never before…been rendered in another language.”
But in 1919, the U.S. Bureau of Education commissioned a Spanish-language version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The State Department’s website also features four-separate versions of the anthem in Spanish.
Being ignorant themselves, the xenophobes would rather argue about “an official language” than encourage a translation that might assist newcomers in learning the ideas as well as the music (?) of the Star Spangled Banner.
Update: Though Bush says he is opposed to Spanish now, according to Kevin Phillips in American Dynasty, during the 2000 presidential campaign “… When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish….”