If you ask me, I wouldn’t go a week without listening to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” And I don’t just listen, I sing. Loud.
It’s one thing you can sing out loud while cooking dogs on the grill that the neighbors can’t complain about. Who’s gonna’ say, “Hey stop singing that patriotic song!!!”
Now, I understand when they called the township when I did my Lady Gaga revue (that’s the fancy spelling.). But nobody calls the township when I sing patriotic songs.
But one principal might. According to Weasel Zippers:
A controversial Coney Island principal has pulled the plug on patriotism.
Her refusal to let students sing “God Bless the USA” at their graduation has sparked fireworks at a school filled with proud immigrants.
Greta Hawkins, principal of PS 90, the Edna Cohen School, won’t allow kindergartners to belt out the beloved Lee Greenwood ballad, also known as “Proud to be an American,” at their moving-up ceremony.
Five classes spent months learning the patriotic song, which skyrocketed in popularity after the 9/11 attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It was to be the rousing finale of their musical show at the June 20 commencement. The kids, dressed up for their big day, would wave tiny American flags — which, as the lyrics proclaim, “still stand for freedom.”
But Hawkins marched in on a recent rehearsal and ordered a CD playing the anthem to be shut off, staffers said.
She told the teachers to drop the song from the program.
“We don’t want to offend other cultures,” they quoted her as explaining.
The curt edict stunned both staff and parents.
“A lot of people fought to move to America to live freely, so that song should be sung with a whole lot of pride,” said mom Luz Lozada, whose son, Daniel, is in kindergarten.
