Essay: An accent in the national anthem

Essay: An accent in the national anthem

My dad stands when the national anthem plays at baseball games. He removes his faded baseball cap. He faces the flag. He doesn’t sing. “I stand,” he told me. “I’m proud of it.” But he worries that if he sings too loudly, someone might think he’s performing patriotism. If he stands too still, someone might question it. He wonders whether the people around him see sincerity or spectacle — whether they assume he’s “faking it” because he’s an immigr…