The National Anthem was sung in Spanish at the Bush’s First Inaugural:
On Friday, President Bush blasted the idea of singing the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish. But Bush’s highly-scripted 2001 inaugural ceremony actually featured a rendition of the national anthem sung in Spanish by Jon Secada. From Cox News Service, 1/18/01:
“The opening ceremony reflected that sentiment. A racially diverse string of famous and once famous performers entertained Bush, soon-to-be First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President-elect Richard B. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, who watched on stage from a special viewing area.
“Pop star Jon Secada sang the national anthem in English and Spanish.”
Jon fucking Secada. It figures he would be the one to ruin America.
I wonder why Jimi Hendrix’s version never gets brought up as the downfall of America.
Jimi Hendrix’s version was brought up as the downfall of America at the time, as you probably know, emblematic of the degenerate orgy and orgy of degenerates that was Woodstock.
Urgh, the list of companies down the page is disappointing. Michaels Stores donates only to Republicans? Where am I gonna buy paintbrushes now?
….And I commented on the wrong thread. Please delete that if you get the chance, sorry.
Actually, if you check the updates, while Secada did sing the Anthem in Spanish at the White House by Bush’s invitation, he did not actually sing the Anthem at Bush’s inauguration.
At the inauguration, he sang “America the Beautiful” in Spanish.
Still, even without the inauguration, Bush has clearly enjoyed hearing the Anthem sung in Spanish on multiple occasions. And proving Lamar Alexander wrong, the government has commissioned and publicized Spanish translations in the past.
Yes, the national anthem was sung in Spanish at Bush’s inaugural. In fact, Bush sang it himself in Spanish during his campaign in 2000. Yes, saying that it should only be sung in English is an insult to the millions of Americans whose first language is Spanish, especially the American citizens of Puerto Rico, who were just given a big middle finger from the president.
But I feel the need to point out to my fellow liberals: the entire debate over things like the language of the song is just blah blah blah blah blah. The real issue isn’t the language of the anthem, but the underlying reason why we would even need to have this debate at all.
We have created an economic system in which cheap labor is sucked out of Latin America to create a certain standard of living in the US. That labor is then kept cheap by threats like this. As soon as workers struggle far enough up from absolute poverty, and are no longer worried that speaking out and organizing will result in immediate unemployment or deportation, we have a backlash. Oh, those brown people! They’re a security threat! They take our jorbs! They sing in Spanish! Etc! And so we argue about the song’s language while people are exploited.
People, this is like Marx 101. Base and superstructure. The debate over the anthem is the veneer over a massive economic structure that needs us to argue over the anthem rather than taking a critical look at why we’re even arguing in the first place. And, more importantly, it needs us to have these superficial arguments because they serve as a self-correcting mechanism for the system. Mexicans start getting uppity and demanding things like dignity and basic human rights, and whitey gets scared and there’s a backlash and suddenly the issue for the workers isn’t the anthem, but rather whether they’ll loose their jobs and get shipped home. So they close their mouths, and labor goes back to being atomized and powerless. Perfect.
Dance puppets, dance. If the system were embodied by a fat, top-hatted capitalist, he’d be laughing with glee at how masterfully he played us. We want to think that we’re standing up for the rights of poor workers, and attacking the racism of the right. But so long as this is what we’re talking about, it’s like we’re reading from the capitalist’s script. Debates like this don’t deal with the problem, the reinforce the problem. They perpetuate it. They serve its purpose. They’re a distraction.
America The Beautiful? I didn’t think it was POSSIBLE to sing the whole thing…
Shorter Spanky:
“Democracy is stupid…give up…give up…”
(sorry, couldn’t resist)