OPINION:
American students now pledge allegiance to Mexico. They sing its national anthem. And it is sanctioned by the state of Texas. Sound absurd? It is. Last month in a Spanish class at Achieve Early College High School in McAllen, Texas, students recited the Mexican pledge of allegiance and were instructed to memorize the Mexican anthem. Moreover, they had to wear red, white and green - the colors of the Mexican flag - as they fulfilled their class assignment. Public high schools no longer promote American patriotism, but they are doing a superb job of cultivating loyalty to Mexico.
Sophomore Brenda Brinsdon refused to participate. “I just thought it was out of hand; I didn’t think it was right,” she told the Blaze, which first reported the story. “Reciting pledges to Mexico and being loyal to it has nothing to do with learning Spanish.”
She’s right. When she complained, however, to the school’s principal, Yvette Cavazo, Miss Brinsdon was told it was part of the curriculum. According to Texas’ state education standards, students must acquire “knowledge” of foreign cultures and use language to enhance their “understanding.”
“The students came away with a better understanding of the culture, heritage and customs of a neighboring country where Spanish is the primary language,” school district spokesman Mark May said.
This is treasonous; American students are being indoctrinated to revere and pledge their loyalty to a foreign government. Such is the logical consequence of multiculturalism and modern liberalism.
For decades, spending on public education has soared. America spends more per capita than almost any other country in the West. The results: On international test scores, U.S. students continually lag behind their European and Asian counterparts, especially on math and science. Many students who graduate from high school are barely literate. They know next to nothing about the Constitution, American history or basic civics. U.S. public schools are not properly teaching writing and reading in English. Why do schools promote the learning of Spanish and a foreign culture when many U.S. students are deficient in understanding their own language and civilization? Santa Anna trumps George Washington.
Decades ago, students learning Spanish would recite the pledge of allegiance to America or sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in that foreign language. No more. Our education establishment thinks displays of patriotism are signs of “nativism” and “xenophobia.” Textbooks regularly teach that America is a nation founded upon racism, sexism, imperialism and genocide. Therefore, students must be taught to appreciate - and respect - foreign peoples and Third World cultures. This is a form of national self-hatred and self-abnegation.
Moreover, this is part of the Hispanicization of America. Since 1990, nearly 20 million illegal aliens have crossed our porous southern border. If one adds legal immigration, the foreign-born population is nearly 40 million. America essentially has imported an entire subculture the size of a major European nation. This is the most dramatic cultural transformation in one generation in history. Our political class is engaged in a dangerous social experiment - one that threatens to destroy our country.
The cultural effects have been felt almost everywhere, especially in Texas, the Southwest and California. English is dying. Spanish is rampant. Hispanic communities are surging. Along with their unprecedented numbers, they are bringing their distinct culture, language, customs, heritage and powerful loyalties. In an America that no longer emphasizes assimilation, many remain unassimilated. Ethnic separatism and linguistic chauvinism are on the rise. For millions of illegal and legal immigrants, Mexico is - and always will be - their true homeland. America is slowly being Balkanized.
“Mexifornia” is a case in point. California once was the symbol of the American dream. Today, it is sinking into a Third World abyss. Among large parts of Los Angeles, English can no longer be heard. Some neighborhoods are no-go areas. They are occupied by Mexican gangs and drug cartels. In the Golden State’s public schools, from kindergarten through the third grade, almost 2 out of 5 students have English as their second language. In the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural region, one can go for hundreds of miles and hear only one language: Spanish.
Our political establishment - both liberal Democrats and pro-business Republicans - do not want to confront this unpleasant truth: Mexico is slowly reannexing the U.S. Southwest. This is occurring culturally and linguistically. Eventually, it will happen territorially.
In fact, the Mexican government has been open about its expansionist aims. Its consulates in America have a mandate to provide Mexican textbooks in communities with large Hispanic populations. The Mexican consulate in Los Angeles has distributed hundreds of thousands of such textbooks to more than 1,000 schools in the Los Angeles area alone. Those textbooks teach that the Southwest, California and Texas belong to Mexico; that they were stolen in the 1848 Mexican-American War; and that Hispanic children owe allegiance to the Mexican flag and the Mexican state. In Mexico City and among radical Hispanic activists in America, the strategy is called “La Reconquista” - the reconquest of ancient lands. In 2004, then-President Vicente Fox said in Chicago that Americans of Mexican descent are part of a “nation” that transcends frontiers. He was calling for the creation of a Greater Mexico.
Yet Americans remain strangely silent. We are witnessing the emergence of a multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual Tower of Babel. Unless it is demolished, it will tear America apart. Today, Texas students are being told to pledge allegiance to Mexico and sing its anthem. Tomorrow, they may be told that the U.S. flag and the Constitution of our Founding Fathers represent a foreign regime occupying foreign soil.
Welcome to the United States of Mexico.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.