God Bless America

On the radio the other day was a discussion of a series of Spanish language radio stations playing a Spanish version of the Star Spangled Banner.

These are the radio stations and DJs that are basically responsible for the original mass protests in response to the immigration bill.

On the program I listened to, a spokesman for the radio station characterized the reactions of people listening (all whom are Spanish speaking Latino Americans) as about 60% offended and 40% supportive.

From what I can tell, there is a big internal division amoung the politically active Hispanic community. One side is pro-integration, they want to work, not be harassed, get a fair shake at the American dream. They want their kids going to college, they want to be Americans and not feel like second class citizens. But there is another side to this movement, which is not as earnest. There is a side who prefers that America adapt to their practices. They think they've been victimized by the system and feel like they are "owed" an opportunity. They seek power as a subgroup. They are what the framers worried about, a faction.

Evidence of the first group is the decision in the second round of rallies to wave only the US flag, as opposed to the Mexican flag. Evidence of the second group is to have bilingual education in schools.

When asked by the NPR host, what message he thought playing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish sent, the radio person responded, freedom of expression.

It makes we wonder if a) freedom of expression is a message and b) what playing the SSB in Spanish has to do with freedom of expression. No one is proposing that we not allow the SSB to be played in Spanish, what we are asking is what it means.

George Bush was asked the question and he said he preferred it in English, in his smarmy tone, playing to the red state xenophobia. But is there something wrong with the SSB being played in Spanish? Yes, I think there is. For the same reason I think there is something wrong with playing an English version of the Iraqi national anthem. The message is sends is one of attempted domination, not one of respect for culture. Because, despite the common yogurt joke, the US has a wonderful culture, one deserving of respect - as do the Iraqis and the Mexicans.