Beautiful and Worthy

Is ignorance what unites us as a people?

This week’s controversy is Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl XLVIII commercial that aired Sunday 02/02/2014, featuring the song America the Beautiful sung by different Americans in different languages. For some, this was offensive to everything they hold dear as not only a consumer, but as an American.

There are two arguments our friends are making in support of their outrage.

First argument some of our patriotic friends are claiming is “English is our official language.”  Actually, the United States of America has no official language. Never has.

English is the prominently spoken language within the U.S. According to the 2009 U.S. Census, 80% of us speak English as our primary language,  Spanish 12.4%, other Indo-European 3.7%, Asian and Pacific island languages 3%. There is absolutely no Federal law, nothing in the Constitution, its amendments, or the Bill of Rights that states English is the official language of the United States. Nothing. Nowhere.

Granted, some groups and politicians have tried over the years to generate support for an “official language” or an “English only” culture. However, these attempts have all failed.

The second argument some of our purist friends are claiming “They ruined our national anthem.” America the Beautiful is a patriotic song, but it is not the national anthem of the United States of American. The national anthem is The Star Spangled Banner.

The text of The Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for use at a men’s social club located in London, England. The text of America the Beautiful was written by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 and the tune a hymn written by Samuel A. Ward. Key wrote his text after watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry. Bates wrote her text while travelling to and visiting the Rocky Mountains.

This may make it slightly more uncomfortable for our purist friends, Katherine Lee Bates was a lesbian. She was a Republican until 1924. She gave up her political affiliation with that party due to its growing xenophobic attitudes. Francis Scott Key was a slave owner and worked to make it a law that free slaves were to be forcibly returned to Africa and used his position as an attorney to quash any who were against slavery.

The commercial was nicely produced, beautifully sung in different American voices from diverse backgrounds. The only thing I found unfortunate about it, other than the blatant ignorant racism some of our friends seem unable to let go of, was that it was a commercial. I wish it was a piece of art that was created and stood apart from any corporation for the use of driving their product sales.

I will conclude my thoughts discussing briefly Community of Christ’s enduring principle. Our enduring principles “define the essence, heart, or soul of church identity, mission, and message. They describe the personality of the church as expressed through its participants, congregations, and affiliate organizations throughout the world.” For example, we hold these to be true to our understanding of the mystery that is God and God’s creations:

• God views all people as having inestimable and equal worth.
• God wants all people to experience wholeness of body, mind, spirit, and relationships.
• We seek to uphold and restore the worth of all people individually and in community, challenging unjust systems that diminish human worth.
• We join with Jesus Christ in bringing good news to the poor, sick, captive, and oppressed.

Stephen M. Veazey, president of Community of Christ, stated in 2010, “Former ways of defining people by economic status, social class, sex, gender, or ethnicity no longer are primary. … a new community of tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love is being born as a visible sign of the coming reign of God.”

All people are of worth. Not just my friends. Not just those who resemble me or live near me or laugh at my jokes. Not just those of my faith or denomination or with the same political affiliation as me. Those who make me uncomfortable are of worth. Those who I disagree with and those who are bigoted and hateful are also of worth. People who some do not consider even to be a person are worthy.

Coca-Cola posted a comment with their commercial, “The only thing more beautiful than this country are the people who live here.”

Those who speak English or Spanish, Portuguese or Tagalog, Mandarin or Cherokee, or any other language with any accent or dialect are beautiful and worthy.

Those who are the palest of white to the deepest of black and all skin shades and colors in between are beautiful and worthy.

Do not allow the racists to be the only voice heard. Do not allow the bigots to control the conversation. Stand up, speak up. Do not allow ignorance to be the one thing that unites us. All are beautiful and all are worthy.

The full 90-second Coca-Cola commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhP5sDUnF6c

Community of Christ Enduring Principles http://www.cofchrist.org/ourfaith/enduring-principles.asp

U.S. Goverments response to an “official language” http://answers.usa.gov/system/templates/selfservice/USAGov/#!portal/1012/article/3206/Official-Language-of-the-US