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A non-profit organization is reviving the official, yet largely forgotten Spanish-language version of the national anthem to honor America’s millions of Hispanic citizens working on the front lines.
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The We Are All Human Foundation (WAAH), which seeks to celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion, commissioned a brand-new recording of the anthem as part of its Hispanic Star campaign, highlighting the important role Hispanic Americans are playing in the fight against COVID-19.
The Spanish-language national anthem — or “El Pendón Estrellado” (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) — was first commissioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945 as part of his administration’s efforts to improve relations with Latin American countries during WWII. That year, Peruvian immigrant Clotilde Arias, a jingle-writer and composer who studied music in NYC, provided an original translation of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which remains the only officially recognized Spanish-language translation of the anthem to this day.
“The Spanish version of the U.S. national anthem is a treasure as it represents U.S. Hispanics, who are both 100-percent Hispanic and 100-percent American,” said Claudia Romo Edelman, founder and CEO of WAAH, upon the release of a newly recorded version of the anthem. “It is especially relevant now because U.S. Hispanics are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and also disproportionately exposed since we are not only truck drivers, medical workers and food producers, but also a significant portion of the service workers who have been laid off from hotels, restaurants and small businesses.”
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The new rendition, sung by Jeidimar Rijos, the 2019 winner of “La Voz” (the Spanish-language version of “The Voice”), debuted online along with a video featuring photos of the Hispanic first responders, medical professionals and food-supply workers risking their health to help keep America safe.
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“We don’t win this alone. We win this together,” reads a message displayed across the screen at the end of the video. “Help Hispanics, help America.”
This latest Hispanic Star campaign debuts less than two weeks after a Pew Research study found that roughly half of Hispanic Americans report having someone in their household who lost their job, or is currently taking reduced pay, as a result of the health crisis, as compared to just 33 percent of Americans overall.
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David B. Woolner, a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute in New York, has also lauded WAAH for continuing some of the efforts FDR was proud to champion during his presidency.
“The We Are All Human Foundation deserves credit for reminding us — as FDR did — of the important role that Hispanics across the nation are playing in helping us meet this crisis.”