'Star Spangled Jhanda'???

I know the first question a lot of people will have is what is a 'jhanda'? Well, it's the Hindi word for flag or banner. Now that that's straightened out, on to the topic of my rant for today. That is the singing of the national anthem in another language. British music producer Adam Kidron unleashed a torrent of emotions in people when he came up with the idea of having a Spanish-language version of the 'Star Spangled Banner' entitled 'Nuestro Himno' or 'Our Anthem.' Now then, there's nothing inherently wrong with that but it brings up a whole lot of other concerns in my mind that lead me to conclude that this is the time to set a precedent and stick with it before things start taking a turn for the surreal.

My parents are both immigrants. They came to this country from India in the early 1970's. At the time, they arrived to this country knowing that they wanted to remain here. As a result, they adopted the ways of this country and embraced the differences knowing that everyone here had a chance to do well. English was the language of the country so naturally they spoke English. They continued to speak their native language, as do my brother and I, but we sing our national anthem, the American national anthem, with pride and respect and in English.

Does this mean I'm against the Immigration Reform Movement? Not at all. I believe that Immigration laws need to be reformed since there are people from all over the world trying to come to America but because of a few who choose to bend or break the rules, those abiding the rules are made to suffer and wait. My brother and I were lucky enough to be born here but I know that there are many others who are nonetheless looking to come to the country and achieve the same things my parents have had the opportunity to do.

What does this have to do with singing the national anthem in Spanish? Well think about it. Spanish is only one of literally hundreds of languages spoken throughout the country. If we're going into Spanish, why stop there? Why not German, French, Hindi, Korean, Japanese or Chinese or any of the other languages that can be heard in the ethnic neighborhoods of the country? Some would argue that Spanish is a common language due to the number of people coming in to the country from Central and South America. Okay, I see that. But why not go with French as well? Those darn Canadians may be coming across the border and we may not realize it eh?

For the sake of arguement, supposing we do allow this to happen and we start hearing the national anthem in Spanish at various events; how long do you think it will be before we start hearing cries for the national anthem to be sung in this language or that language. Can you imagine how long the national anthem will last at various sports events? There will be a program listing what order they'll be sung in. Squadrons of fighters will be needed for flyovers at the appropriate times. And the next thing you know, the 50 stars will soon be replaced by mini flags of every country represented in the United States!