Bilingualism in the USA..."Nuestro Himno" controversy.
It’s finally happened. The Star Spangled Banner has been translated into Spanish and it’s caused a major flap in the chattering class. The debate about “alien nation”, “illegal immigration” and “guest workers” has finally reared its head into the light that is calling people out on their roots of this issue, racism.
There are 11 million undocumented people mostly Mexican and Hispanic living in the USA. These people have been working at subsistent wages and in effect have no rights. All they want to do is work, but the immigration process is terribly flawed so instead many have snuck across the border in an attempt to find a better life. In my view the real driver behind this issue as such a political hot potato, is that the people who are arriving are Spanish speakers and are of a darker complexion. White-toast America feels threatened by this, and cries victim of political correctness if they are called out on it. Thus far things like the Minuteman Project and most media pundits have been able to get away with this debate while hiding behind the guise of economics and security. However with the translation of the Star Spangled Banner – no more! People (including but not limited to President Bush) are flat out saying speak white.
Now friends and former Profs who from the DFAIT have all spoken about the American’s awareness of the country’s growing bilingualism and have consulted Canada on lessons learned. It would be interesting to try to apply Canadian policies to the states but the lessons certainly don’t apply. In a first instance, there already are numerous Spanish speaking countries in America. Actually they just about all are! Not only do they move to the USA and hope to become American (unlike those who move to Canada and become separatists.) They move there and plan to assimilate or at the very least ensure that there children do. Now there is a very substantial Hispanic population in the south and southwestern states and there is a Diaspora pretty much right across the country (Save Minnesota) so making it a priority for non-Hispanics to learn the language would be a good thing for national cohesion. But there is no need to be threatened by Spanish.
The only real lesson to be learned from the Canadian experience on bilingualism is not to be threatened by a minority tongue, even if it’s growing. Embracing other languages makes the country culturally richer and the dominant language (English) will do just fine. Statements such a President Bush’s on it, only enflame the matter rather than calming it down. The States really doesn’t need to worry about “Bilingual today, Spanish tomorrow”, so to any American reader…take a breath calm down, and embrace the pluralism your country was founded upon!
