Crunchy con Rod Dreher and his Texas confreres don’t get to many hockey games, do they?
Richardson (Texas) school district officials issued an apology this week, after receiving complaints that a choir sang the Mexican national anthem at a school concert.
Before the start of last week’s spring concert at Greenwood Hills Elementary, the school choir sang “Texas Our Texas,” the Mexican national anthem and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The choir then performed its spring program.
The most outrageous thing about this was the apology. So sorry that bleeding heart, weak constitutioned parents were mad. I’m sure their stomachs turned when we were forced to play so many national anthems in Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Lake Placid, Squaw Valley, St Louis.
Hear the instrumental version here.
30 May 2009 at 11:18 pm
To claim that what these American parents are complaining about was at all comparable to “national anthems (played) in Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Lake Placid, Squaw Valley, St Louis” is to make a false equivalence. That school in Richardson, Texas was not hosting an international sports competition.
“District officials said the song was included by a music teacher to honor the Hispanic heritage of a portion of the school’s student and parent population.”–Dallas Morning News
That music teacher blundered, plain and simple. There was no reason to single out Mexicans for a special honor. The Mexican national anthem was sung as part of the patriotic observance portion of the program. Not all of us of Hispanic heritage are descended from Mexicans – even in Texas. An apology was in order.
31 May 2009 at 7:54 am
Micha, one doesn’t need international competition to hear a foreign anthem played in the US. Given the saturation of sport in the US, color me surprised this is an issue at all, especially for people who follow the Mavs, Stars, and Rangers.
I’m sure that a music teacher sensitive to Hispanic concerns is well aware that Mexicans don’t make up 100% of Texan Hispanics. If they choose to add a different anthem next year, it wouldn’t be a problem with me. However, it’s most likely that visiting non-US grandparents would be mostly or all Mexicans.
5 June 2009 at 9:50 am
O Canada is played at hockey games because of the high percentage of adult Canadian players and the high likelihood that one of the teams is, you know, from Canada.
Anthems at a choral concert at all seem a little odd to me, even in Northwest Florida.
The school is 440-something miles from the border, so the grandparents who come to the concerts are probably resident aliens or unauthorized migrants, neiher of who need treatment as recognized foreign guests.
5 June 2009 at 1:29 pm
I submit the hockey case doesn’t have a darn thing to do with the players.
Ed, you have an interesting take on North America. US citizens: clearly free to honeymoon or otherwise party in Cancun, Acapulco, etc.. But if granny wants to visit her clan in Texas, she’s probably either an alien or has no green card.
It seems to me the fuss over the music is overblown.