Nuestro Himno' honors U.S. national anthem

[dawyked]

San Jose Mercury News
May 02, 2006 During the 75 years that it's officially been the national anthem, 'The Star-Spangled Banner' has been butchered more often than hogs at a sausage plant.

We're not just talking about Roseanne Barr's deliberate dissing of it or Jimi Hendrix's mesmerizing Woodstock version. Go to enough baseball games, and you'll know 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is taxing for anyone without perfect pitch, not to mention bums in the bleachers.

So give credit to Wyclef Jean ;D, hip-hop star Pitbull and Puerto Rican singers Carlos Ponce and Olga Tañón for singing 'Nuestro Himno,' the Spanish version of the U.S. national anthem, which was released last week, in time for Monday's Day Without Immigrants. Any attempt at 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is a high-wire act, and their rendition was more than respectable. As a political statement on behalf of immigrants yearning to share the freedoms the anthem represents, it was also stirring.

You'd never know that from the overreaction of President Bush and some others. You'd have thought the immigrants who sang 'Nuestro Himno' and radio stations that played it were desecrating the anthem, not honoring it. Bloviating and trivializing the immigration issue, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., promised to introduce a resolution on the importance of singing the anthem in English. Bush agreed, because 'people who want to be citizens of the country ought to learn English.'

There's no dispute there. No one's arguing for playing 'Nuestro Himno' in between 'The Star-Spangled Banner' and 'O Canada' at a Sharks game. But for those who don't yet know English, 'Nuestro Himno' offers insights into the values and ideals of this country. Even its second verse (Did you know there was more than one?), in which the writers took liberties with the wording, offers a civics lesson -- in the First Amendment.

According to a Knight Ridder news story, the State Department posts versions of 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' along with the Bill of Rights, in other languages on its Web site. Apparently, the administration wants foreigners to read the national anthem -- just don't dare hum it.

did anyone have "nuestro himno"?

[dawyked]

'Star-Spangled Banner' symbol of nation's pride, not immigrant solidarity

The British music producer who decided America needed a Spanish-language version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” seemed surprised at the outrage it induced.

The song called “Nuestro Himno”(Our Anthem) was released Friday and sung by artists including Wyclef Jean, hip-hop star Pitbull and Puerto Rican singers Carlos Ponce and Olga Tanon.

Producer Adam Kidron claims it is an “ode to those seeking a better life.”

Perhaps because he is not an American himself, Kidron could not see how taking our most visible symbol of patriotism other than our flag and using it as a song of solidarity for immigrants is not only a slap in the face, but a matter of backward thinking.

Latino immigrants came to America because they were seeking something they could not find in Mexico, Puerto Rico or Guatemala. They were seeking American jobs, values, culture, freedom. They were seeking the ideals epitomized by our national anthem.

To be a symbol of those ideals, the anthem was written and is sung in our nation’s language: English.

To sing it in any other way is an insult.

Immigrants who truly came here because they love America would want to learn to sing it as it was created:

No one is saying we as Americans should not embrace other cultures. As we are reminded daily during the debates on immigration controls, we are a nation of immigrants.

But those who came to this country from Ireland, Italy, Germany, China and most every country on the planet did not attempt to make our anthem “multi-national.” It’s purpose is to unite people as one nation, not divide it by culture.

America has always benefited from the melding of cultures immigration brings. But at no other time in our history has a group of immigrants managed to so thoroughly inject its culture into America — telephone machines offer messages in Spanish and English; signs use both languages; shelves at convenience stores are lined with snacks made popular in Latino countries; the debit card machines at Wal-Mart are most always in Spanish mode when customers reach the register. Immigrants who come here illegally do not have driver licenses and therefore often not familiar with our traffic laws.

Many of those also do not pay taxes that support the programs that make America a great place to live, nor are they familiar with our criminal laws.

Did these immigrants come here to create a new Latino country or to benefit from the one built by all the immigrants who came before them?

Many supporters of amnesty for immigrants in our country illegally talk about the work ethic of these people, of their desire to have a better life for their children.

Those are admirable qualities and qualities we want in the people who live here.

So why are they trying to change our country?

It needs to remain the country others seek to make their home, not become the countries they are fleeing.

According to an Associated Press report, Kidron plans to release a remix of “Nuestro Himno” in July to include lines that condemn U.S. immigration laws. Among those lines: “These kids have no parents, cause all of these mean laws ... let’s not start a war with all these hard workers, they can’t help where they were born.”

It’s true some families are separated when they choose to enter this country illegally. It’s true people cannot help where they were born.

But it is false to say laws created to protect rights of Americans are “mean” or that we are looking for a fight.

The only “war” being started is by those who seek to use a symbol of American unity and pride to divide and demean.

[dawyked]

inmigration is one the fatest problems here in my country, hundreds of people goes to work in the US, to do the hard work, wich the americnas won't do, and the keep pushing us against the wall , it's cool that some people care's about it, because it's a real problem. viva mexico cabrones!