Recently, I received a series of e-mails regarding a translation of the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish. In this series, an e-mail denouncing the translation was sent to someone of Hispanic origins who felt it was OK to translate this song. After reading through the series, I sent my response as listed below:
If I may interject a bit. This is America and we have freedoms. One of the hard parts about freedom is defending the rights of someone who will say things that will be totally against what you say. Translating the National Anthem into other languages is a freedom of speech that is guaranteed in the 1st amendment. Do I like it? No, but I have to defend someone’s right to do so. One problem with stopping someone to write the national anthem in other languages is that this nation never actually declared a national language. Most other countries have one but for some reason our founding fathers didn’t see fit to add that little blurb anywhere in our founding documents.
One thing that I will totally disagree with is the statement that America is a melting pot. This may have been the case years ago, but is no longer the case. We are more of a tossed salad. By this I mean that instead of mixing as the melting pot analogy would imply, we stay separated by whatever separates us. Religion, nation of origin, skin color, etc. It is tearing this nation apart. The hyphenated nationalities will eventually be part of the down fall of the US. You cannot pledge your allegiance to two nations. You are either one or the other. For example, in this case, Mexican-American. You cannot be Mexican if you are American or vice versa. You can celebrate that your heritage is Mexican but you are one or the other. There is a difference between nationality and heritage. Webster’s will provide definitions if you disagree.
As far as —— comments regarding the Hispanic influence, I have this to say. Those Mexicans who wish to come to the US to work and contribute to our nation, welcome. Please do not expect to be catered to because we have enough problems. Do you know that there are a lot of countries that want to kill Americans? How awful.
If you plan to come to America to live off a system that you have not contributed to, please stay home. We have enough problems with welfare from our own individuals. We have to tolerate them because they are home grown and, we hope, their parents have put money into the system to help pay for what they use.
All of us have felt the stings of war in one way or another. Some have given their husbands or wives, some have given sons or daughters. Some of us may have given relatives that we never knew and some have given of themselves. Some live with the memories of war. Whether directly connected or indirectly connected, you do not gain or lose more freedoms based upon what you have given in war or to defend this nation and the values for which it stands. You cannot “earn” what is given freely. Do NOT bring up that arguement because we are all guaranteed the same freedoms and NO WHERE does it say that if you contributed by fighting or by giving of loved ones in a war are you more entitled. Don’t get me wrong, we should value and honor those that have fought and/or died for our freedoms. Without our soldiers, we would not have our freedoms.
As far as translating the American National Anthem into spanish, that is a guaranteed right under the 1st amendment. I do hope that it has been translated accurately and with the same spirit Francis Scott Key intended. I also hope, that when it is sung, that it is heartfelt and those that sing it feel a dedication to the United States, enough to declare allegiance to the United States, to defend it, to contribute to it, to perpetuate it, and to love it.
