"I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English," Bush told reporters in the Rose Garden. "And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English."I can see what he's getting at, and I can even see the argument that a Spanish-language version might encourage Spanish speakers not to learn the English version, but I don't think this is how Bush should have approached the issue.
First of all, I would have evaluated the message of the song, to see if I felt it matched the original Star Spangled Banner. Then I would have remarked that it's great that America is such a melting pot and that we have so much creativity coming from so many different cultures. After that, I would have expressed concern that the song might detract from English language learning, and suggested that the two versions be played back to back on the radio.
I don't think we should so easily tramp down on creativity and the desire for unity. Because that's what this song is. It's about inclusiveness. It's about welcoming Spanish speakers to the US. With the current immigration debate heating up, it's easy to go on the offensive about all things Mexican or South American or Spanish language-related. But we don't need to alienate the people who come here legitimately.
And a dangerous subtext of the president's remarks is, "If you come to America, you have to conform." I didn't think that was the message of our country at all. Shouldn't we be proud of the mishmash of cultures that have come together to form this great nation?
I do think that immigrants should learn English, but I don't think we should make it difficult for them to speak their native language. Our language is tied up with our identity, and people shouldn't be forced--or even strongly encouraged--to abandon that.
[Update 5/1 7:17 a.m.]: Condi's response is more what I was thinking would be good:
"I've heard the national anthem done in rap versions, country versions, classical versions. The individualisation of the American national anthem is quite under way," she said on the CBS show "Face the Nation."
"From my point of view, people expressing themselves as wanting to be Americans is a good thing," she added. "I think what we need to focus on is an immigration policy that is comprehensive and that recognises our laws and recognises our humanity," she added.
4 comments:
It's interesting to see some of the conflicts and arguements over Bush's comments and immigration and/or the 'Melting Pot' concept as a whole from Canada, where we've the got the 'Cultural Mosaic' to your 'Melting Pot'.
Just to start off, it doesn't work as well as some might think, letting people retain as much of their culture as they want instead of cramming the concept of being 'Canadian' down their throats. Not to say that either extreme is right, but living in Toront in particular has shown some of the obvious problems with 'cultural diversity'.
The first problem is the division. No one actually lives happily together in a big group that spans religions, countries of birth and backing. Neighborhoods that are closer-knit are predominantly a single group to some real extremes. Things are so carefully laid out that during the World Cup games, they know where people are going to be rioting or partying over losses or wins. In one case the other year, they knew what street to close down and for people to avoid because that's where all the Greeks (I believe it was the greeks) were.
The other problem is that a lot of people are able to live in Toronto in their seperate area, and never speak a word of English. They can go out, shop for groceries, visit a restaurant, shop for clothes, all without knowing any english at all. Sure, it's great for the elderly who can't be taught enough english to get by, but it leaves a number of people who are unable to function in english outside of their homes. I went to school with few people whose handle on English derserved some attention from the ESL teachers, but they had been in Canada for a few of years - it was just my school where their problems with english caused problems in classes.
*Sigh* But overall, I have to side that people should all know how to function in English if they're going to live in Canada or the US. I'm not arrogant about the language, and I never ask for people, particularly where it's not the national language, to speak it (Except in Quebec. Because no one likes Quebec ;p ). Heck, I want to make sure that I don't travel anywhere without speaking some of the language - I'd feel like a jackass even visiting Japan if I had to stagger around with a translator.
Anyway, so cultures don't really mash to well. They often seperate like oil and water, it's common everywhere, and looks different from every point of view. To others, it's like they're gathering. To them, it looks like no one else wants to deal with them. In my Sociology class, a student mentioned that white people didn't want to hang out with him because he was Chinese, so he hung out with Chinese people, it was odd because I have lots of Asian friends, and since our school was about 60% Asian he certainly didn't need to feel like a minority. It's just how it looked to him.
Bleh, long rant-ish thing I have going here. <_<
To finish, people always get threatened by the smallest thing. Worrying that people are going to never learn your anthem in English is a bit much, but playing it in Spanish exlcusively to the public would be a different problem altogether. The problem right now is that everyone is looking at 'The Immigrants' like some kind of opposing force they have to keep their eye on. And that leads to stereotyping, which leads to racial arguements, it goes all over the place. People just need to treat others as people, and then figure out how to screw everyone over the least.
Before you cast judgement on this, go look up who wrote the Spanish version, and who performed on it - as well as the price they'll charge for the CD because of this.
This wasn't an American Patriot trying to make this shit work, it's an established British songwriter that no matter what he's saying, teamed up with icons to bust out this new version.
Tim makes a lot of good points, and I'm going to stand by Bush on this one.
Children's television, such as Sesamee Street, Dora the Explorer, what have you are now trying to teach our 2-6 year olds Spanish. Connor has a Spanish class once a week!
They're saying we need to learn Spanish because with the way we're getting Spanish-speaking people into the country, it'll be a necessity.
I don't think that's right. If you expected a French man to accept the French Anthem in German, would that be cool? Look around.
The problem with Americans is this history with "BEING BADASS AND KILLING AND MAIMING TO ACHIEVE WHAT WE WANT NO MATTER WHAT" that leaves people like you. Heather, thinking that you owe something to someone. You have to be accepting.
Where's our national pride? What's happened here? This wasn't an anthem written to be put in Spanish singing books. It's a fucking British songwriter creating a version that fits closely to ours, performed by "super stars" to "celebrate the spanish" while raking in cash.
I agree with Bush. The National Anthem should be the way it was written, period. and pussy-footing around it all to spare feelings is stupid. They come to this country for the opportunities, but they come illegally. And people want us to be kind to them - to take care of them, nurture them, make it happen for them.
There needs to be a time where we stop, look around, and realize that we aren't as horrible as others might think we are. We accept a hell of a lot more than other people do. And for some reason, a lot of us have this incredible guilt because we BOMBED THE POOR JAPANESE or we FOUGHT IN VIETNAM or what have you. The choices of our ancestors shouldn't impact who we are today. And further, the choices of our ancestors MADE US what we are today.
This is America. You want to skip over the border illegally, fine. But I'm not going to learn fluent Spanish so I can help you.
The fact that they're here instead of there says plenty. Let's not sacrifice ourselves because they think we're better than what they left behind. Let's do what we do. If they want to learn our language, fine. That's how it should be.
True-born American citizens shouldn't have to learn to communicate with illegal immigrants to be FAIR to immigrants. Man, they wanted to come here so bad - they can learn the language.
Stop feeling guilty, America. We're the world power because of what we are. You want to worry for those of lesser stature? Fine. You have that right. It's called freedom. That may be why they're here in the first place. But we should believe, honor, and trust in this country. This is the best fucking place in the world to be.
Please note that I wasn't saying we should put the Spanish version in schools! I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with playing a Spanish version on the radio :> I didn't research the history of the song because that doesn't matter, in my opinion. It's not an official version. The official version is in English. What does it matter if people learn an unofficial version, as long as they learn the official one too?
My point was that Bush could have been a lot more diplomatic about it, and maybe he wouldn't have set off so much controversy.
I believe that people immigrating to the United States should learn English, but that they should also have resources to maintain their native language, and that people already living here should have resources to learn about other cultures and languages. (I do not, of course, believe any of that should be compulsory.)
I would like to believe that it's possible for different cultures to come together and create something diverse and new and interesting. Tim, your comment about the "cultural mosaic" is pretty disheartening, and I think we can see examples of that in the US, too. But I don't think we should stop trying.
And I never said I thought we should harbor illegal immigrants. Legal migrant workers and naturalized citizens are the ones I'm wanting to help.
I honestly don't understand why some people seem to be arguing that illegal immigrants have rights here. They're not citizens, and they're not UN refugees...if they were fleeing from an oppressive regime, like Cubans, that would be one thing. But these are people simply wanting to better their position. There are legal ways of doing that.
I am interested to know why there are apparently so many illegal immigrants--if it's a red tape issue, or if there's just a problem with people not understanding what they need to do to get visas or become naturalized citizens.
AJ, I don't feel guilty for being an American. I didn't control the fact that I was born here. And I do love it here. I just think that as the most powerful country in the world, we should also strive to be the most enlightened. "With great power comes great responsibility," and all that jazz.
"I would like to believe that it's possible for different cultures to come together and create something diverse and new and interesting. Tim, your comment about the "cultural mosaic" is pretty disheartening, and I think we can see examples of that in the US, too. But I don't think we should stop trying."
It's sad, but living in Toronto, a place where the division is obvious, it's something you just learn to live with. Every generation of immigrant acts differently, but there are just so many of them that, well, they want to come from China to Canada, but still want to live as Chinese as possible. So they speak Chinese in the home, raise their kids as Chinese as they can, and tend to spend time with other Chinese people - and they can do it in Toronto if they want.
It is, really, a mosaic. You don't have people grouped together, they're instead cut into seperate groups which is formed together into a big grand place called Canada. Relations between groups are fine, there's little racism on the whole, and other than some groups needing special bylaws passed (like people who have to wear relgious daggers in school, they can't remove them but they can't technically have them, so the government applies special rules to allow it) there's little clashing.
So people want to live in their seperate groups, it happens. Jewish people and Christians couldn't attend the same church, so they're divided. Indian people have certain food needs, so Indian stores open in their areas to serve them better than a normal grocery shop might. People still get together as Canadians, but sometimes people want to remind others that 'Canadian' isn't a single race (Asian people in the elections have better chances with high-asian-population areas. It's just how it turns out, it doesn't mean that Asians vote -only- for Asians).
Not that the Melting Pot concept works well either, since instead you have people trying to force their cultures back onto the main scene, rather than being able to do so in peace. But people want individuality to some degree, they want a defined people they can be with (and visible minority is seconded by relgion in that regard), so that they don't end up just being part of some greater whole. People, even if they don't like them all the time, need labels for themselves to wear, so they define themselves by those they're with.
Of course, Toronto has 3 million people and this ends up happening. Canada has 30 million and we can see certain areas (Other than Quebec) that have somewhat of a saturation of a certian group (I understand there's an area in the praries with a lot of German people). It's people that's doing it, not persons. You can't really blame individuals for this, it's just how things connect when you've got a million people on your hands.
So, well, things can't be perfect. All the barriers will never be broken as long as people keep the walls up - with pride at that. But as long as people get along with one another and we don't have to hear about racism and hate crimes all the day long, that means that we've done something right.
Post a Comment