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.
June 11, 2012 at 1:05 pm
"Other cultures" have come to this country for the to live their lives in freedom. They sought the culture of THIS COUNTRY. Peoples from "other cultures" are not required to leave their ancestral heritage,customs or religion at the U.S. border when they enter this country. Celebration of liberty and giving thanks for it have never been wrong,and never will be. Greta Hawkins is wrong. Dismissal from her position is the only answer. Let the children sing. Allow them to love this country and honor those who have sacrified to defend all that it stands for.
June 11, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Well here he is singing…
June 11, 2012 at 3:56 pm
I wish this story would be reported by the major media outlets. Call me naive but I think that school's principal would hear a lot of outrage.
June 11, 2012 at 4:10 pm
I think that the principal is a red neck with strong prejudices against other cultures. From his statement he implies that other cultures that thrived for at least hundreds of years are not strong enough to survive here in the USA, he believes that they need his protection. His statement also seems to imply that there is only one culture in this country and that it is the "American" culture and that is another show of ignorance, just go around the different states and you will see similar attitudes but different cultures. I truly hope that will never be a single "American" culture in the USA because that would be the one loke a "Brave New World" and it would be against what this country has stood up for the past couple of centuries.
June 11, 2012 at 4:13 pm
My apologies to the blogger because in the previous post I was referring to the principal as a he, later I understood that the principal is a woman. The opinion stays.
June 11, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I think she's a Jehovah's Witness, and her cult prohibits honoring any flag. Or birthdays. She probably confiscates kids' cupcakes too.
June 11, 2012 at 8:19 pm
On Fox & Friends this morning a mother from the school in question, who disagrees strongly with the decision, brought her 5 year old on and he sang the song–it was wonderful to see. The little guy knew all the words. God Bless the USA–we really need help!
June 11, 2012 at 10:12 pm
For once, at least, the objection was not to mentioning "God." It is interesting that the principal did not object to the invocation of "God" in "God Bless the USA", but rather to the claim of pride in being "an American."
Perhaps the principal is right, in an odd sort of way. It may be that some of the students in the Coney Island school are not citizens of the United States, and it would be confusing for them to sing a song that claims that they are.
June 11, 2012 at 11:07 pm
In addition to being an anthem post-9/11, this song was important during Desert Storm as well. When my husband deployed as an F-16 pilot, I was also in the Air Force and in line to deploy. We heard this song frequently and my oldest was four and picked up on the words. One day he spontaneously started singing it loudly at the day care center. There was not a dry eye among the adults there. This is a powerful song and should be enjoyed by young and old alike. Of course the teacher felt this song was not age appropriate, but a Justin Bieber song about teen romance was fine for five-year-olds.
June 13, 2012 at 2:18 am
She wanted to replace it with 'Baby' by Justin Bieber – YIKES! Mayor Bloomberg suggested it was inappropriate for 5yos, Ya think?