Wilmette Thanks Legislature for HR 1291: Illinois Singing National Anthem in English

The Illinois General Assembly has been busy. Here's a resolution passed Thursday, the quatro de Mayo:

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that in this land of immigrants, as one American nation, we should sing our national anthem together in English; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the President of the U.S. Senate, and each member of the Illinois Congressional delegation.

The entire resolution can be accessed here, with the pdf here.

While our legislature doesn't quite have its facts straight, when it says "different versions of our anthem have been produced in many musical styles, but never before in another language," God bless their diverse little souls for getting the resolution right. Hats off to the sponsors, which include Rep. Michelle Chavez, from Cicero (but born in Jalisco, Mexico), a suburb of Chicago where many people of Mexican heritage live. Her leadership is greatly appreciated.

This is encouraging news, in light of a story related by a friend that her child came home from her Wilmette school the other day wondering why her teacher said that the US should not oil-drill in Alaska. Since we never seem to be able to keep politics out of Wilmette schools, any encouragement we can send to our teachers is a very good thing.

Update: With two pro baseball clubs in Chicago,
it looks like we might need more help from the legislature!