Singer at Dodger Stadium sings national anthem in Spanish in protest against L.A. immigration raids

[Jilly_in_VA]

Los Angeles is home to a reported 1.8 million Spanish-speaking residents but rarely do they hear the national anthem sung in that language.

On Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, with 51,548 fans on their feet and television cameras trained on the field, Vanessa Hernández stood behind home plate and sang the national anthem, which is traditionally sung before every sporting event in the United States.

Only this time, it was different.

Known to fans by the stage name, Nezza, the Dominican American singer took the mic at Dodger Stadium and performed “El Pendón Estrellado,” the official Spanish-language version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” — apparently against the wishes of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Wearing a shirt adorned with the flag of her family’s homeland, Hernández’s voice quivered with emotion as she reached the final line, her eyes welling with tears. But her defiance was clear.

As she later shared on her TikTok, a Dodgers staff member had explicitly told her, “We are going to do the song in English today.” She didn't answer her, but then she let her singing do the talking, performing the anthem in Spanish. "I just felt like I needed to do it, para mi gente," (for my people), she explained on TikTok.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/singer-dodger-stadium-national-anthem-spanish-nezza-rcna213236

I say, good for her. We are, to paraphrase the slogan of Guyana, one nation, many peoples.

[sdfernando]

1. I have not stood for the national anthem in a long, long time....

but I would have stood for this if I was in attendance.

¡Brava Nezza! ¡Eres una mujer muy valiente y justa!

[AllaN01Bear]

9. same.

[Deuxcents]

2. Good for her! That flag represents all of us. All of us. Sing it in any language and it represents the same thing

[AllaN01Bear]

10. ding, this.

[spanone]

3. K&R

[Pachamama]

4. Beautiful

https://www.tiktok.com/@babynezza/video/7515995487342824734?embed_source=121374463%2C121468991%2C121439635%2C121433650%2C121404359%2C121497414%2C121477481%2C121351166%2C121487028%2C121679410%2C73347566%2C121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%2C121503376%3Bnull%3Bembed_masking&refer=embed&referer_url=iframely.publishing.yahoo.net%2FOfxPEuXy%3Fv%3D1%26app%3D1&referer_video_id=7516015340464262431

[senseandsensibility]

5. I remember the school board in my school district

said the Pledge of Allegiance in both English and Spanish at the beginning of each board meeting. I don't remember anyone complaining or acting offended. We're used to this in CA.

[Norrrm]

6. A long-ago article mentioned that Dubya sang it in Spanish on the campaign trail.

Don't know how well he speaks Spanish but could follow along.

[dsc]

14. Molly Ivans called him biignorant

His spanish was meh. Spanish is quite phonetic so even if one doesn't know the words if one has studied the language one can pronounce it fairly decently. This is unlike French or English where being able to pronounce words only comes with a real knowledge of the language.

[iluvtennis]

7. So cool. My daughters attended a spanish immersion elementary school in San Jose, CA and they only

know the anthem in Spanish. I can recall one time we went to a sporting event where the anthem was sung in English and they didn't know the words.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

8. TikTok link

https://www.tiktok.com/@babynezza/video/7515995487342824734

[AllaN01Bear]

11. ding, this

[AllaN01Bear]

12. and ca was originally mexican and before that spanish and before that native american .

[pfitz59]

13. And Dodger stadium is built in Chavez Ravine

"Chavez Ravine was named for Julian Chavez (né Julián A. Chávez), the first recorded owner of the ravine.[6] He was born in New Mexico and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1830s. He quickly became a local leader. In 1844, Chavez purchased 83 acres (34 ha) of the long, narrow valley northwest of the city."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chavez_Ravine

[Brother Buzz]

17. Santa Monica homeboy, Ry Cooder's Chavez Ravine

[AllaN01Bear]

18. si.

[Seinan Sensei]

15. How do you say 'Los Angeles' in English?

[moniss]

16. Good for her. Although MLB will probably react

harshly and not allow her to sing at anymore MLB games. But if they do come down on her this would be a time for all of the players from the Caribbean, Central America and South America to stand behind her. Maybe the entire players union.

[Kaleva]

19. Resistance continues to grow!

[kwolf68]

20. WAY TO GO Vanessa

Just like Jim Morrison singing on the Ed Sullivan show when told to change his band's lyrics, he said sure ok then went out and sung the song as written. Was told, 'you'll never play the Ed Sullivan show again" and he said, "well I just did". She maybe won't get to do anymore anthems in Dodger stadium (a good number of MLB baseball players are spanish speaking), but she made her point.

I say if we can get a Democrat elected in 2028, she is asked to sing the anthem at the inauguration.

[Iggo]

21. At least she didn't take a knee.