El Juramento a la Bandara

Juramento a la Bandara
Juro fidelidad, a la bandera, de los Estados Unidos de America. Y la Republica, que representa, una Nacion, bajo Dios, indivsible, con Libertad y Justicia para todos.

A couple of weeks ago, all the First Grade parents received a note from the school's Spanish teacher which had the Spanish version of The Pledge Of Allegiance on it. The note explained that the kids were to go to the local Fox News Station to recite The Pledge in English and then Spanish. Suddenly there is a big uproar from parents who took issue with this. They say that reciting The Pledge in Spanish is immoral, disrespectful to the USA and Military and accommodating Spanish speaking people in our Country. They urged to get the trip completely canceled, which they succeeded in doing. Only the school has yet to notify the majority of the parents, I just heard this through the grapevine all "hush-hush" and I am awaiting to hear what the school has to say about it all.

This has ended up really effecting me on a personal level. At first I was completely blinded by my own views. I was looking at it on a very personal level... given that my husband is a Naturalized Citizen from Peru and his first language is Spanish. That then in turn makes my CHILDREN Hispanic. I flat out thought that these people were discriminating against MY children. Needless to say, Mama Bear came out of her shell. Not to say that I didn't respect others' differing opinions, I just did NOT think that canceling the trip all together was the right thing to do. I figured that if parents found issue with this, then they could simply practice their freedom of choice and NOT send their children on the field trip. The fact that they insist the trip be canceled upsets me on a few levels. One, that it would have been such a great learning experience and fun for the kids to go and also that I personally completely disagree with other's opinions on saying the Pledge in Spanish. MAXX was upset to hear that he couldn't go anymore. Of course he has no understanding as to why anyone would see a problem with it and insist it be canceled all together. There are MANY other area schools going to say The Pledge, although I am not sure if they are saying it in Spanish as well.

THEN I stupidly post about it on my Florida Board. I wasn't even thinking anything bad would come of it. Like I said, I was so blinded by my own views that I couldn't see past them to consider anyone else's or consider the fact that anyone rational would have opposing opinions on it. Oh boy was I wrong! EVERYONE minus ONE person had opposing opinions and views from me. I took a LOT personally and was really hurt by a lot of words that were not intentionally directed at me, but hurt nonetheless because my HUSBAND and CHILDREN are Hispanic. So I panicked, grasped at straws to voice my opinion or prove points and it was just all around bad. A few of them say "oh it was just a healthy debate" but they don't know what it is like being the ONLY recipient of their STRONG opposing views and how bad their words can sting.

Then it gets more personal than that for me. I was accused of handing out fake apologies. One wondered HOW I couldn't have possibly known that she had such strong opinions about that although SHE had no idea that I would have such strong opposing views from her on this one subject. People started throwing things out there that made me wonder what they might think of my husband and his fellow Hispanic immigrants. They were saying things like "It annoys the HELL out of me how we accommodate so much for the Spanish speaking people of this country..." or "And why is there such an emphasis on Spanish? I can't even buy food or toys anymore without 50% of the packaging being written in Spanish. It has gotten competely out of control." or "(Saying the pledge in Spanish) is so disrespectful I don't even have words." Of course no one on that side of the river thinks that there is anything wrong with those statements or how they could have hurt me on such a personal level. And if I dared mention that I truly feel that those comments are discriminatory on a few levels against Hispanics (and therefore my children), I am sure they'd hate me. Then when I think that comments like the ones above have more to do with Immigration rather than saying The Pledge in a different language besides English, I get flamed for it. One tells me that "I brought it apon myself." Which is true, to a very small degree. They DO have a right to their opinions.

My views on this moral issue? I believe that WORDS are just WORDS, no matter what language they are spoken in, they still mean the same thing. One who says The Pledge in Spanish is STILL declaring loyalty to the USA and are NO less patriotic just because their words are spoken in a different language. Then one can argue that by doing that, one is accommodating for Spanish speaking people that need to learn the National Language - English. But that isn't true in my opinion. I think that its just another expression of Patriotism and can also even be looked at as a tool to share it's message to Spanish speaking people who do not know English very well or not at all. This is NOT to say that I don't think that people who live here shouldn't have to learn English, they DO! BUT this Country is ever changing. Who's to say that one day we won't be a bilingual Nation? I think that people should keep an open mind to change. (just as I am sure 50 years ago no one thought that we'd ever have a Black or female President, which might happen this year) I think that people who want to "preserve our American culture" don't really understand the essence of American culture. It is SO diverse as we are one big melting pot of cultures of the World.

In one small respect, something good came out of all of this. It turns out that Max's mother was going to teach The Pledge to her students in her Spanish class! I cannot imagine the pure HELL she would have gone through had she actually done it. I respect that she is such a proud Hispanic American and was ready to teach her students about what the Pledge means and how South Americans (Spanish speaking people) really respect and look up to the United States and long to become Americans themselves. Of course many DO immigrate, but not all are so lucky.

This whole thing has rocked me to the core. It has me looking at the world differently, if not in a more negative light. Max says that I am just having a hard time because this is the first time I have felt discriminated against and that I should just get used to it. I DO hope that the World and especially this great Nation we live in, changes for the better sooner than later because I wold NEVER want for my children to feel like a lesser human being just because of their heritage. I hope to raise them to be PROUD Hispanic Americans.

I keep adding things to this post, but I found a really good YouTube Video about this. It is sadening how much intolerance there still is of diversity in this Country. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Presitdent BUSH is the one who declared September 15 thru October 15 Hispanic Heritage Month! If even the President of The United States can recognize change in our great Country, and welcome it, why shouldn't its citizens? Talk about narrow minded. Reminds me of the days of Segregation.