CNN
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Amidst continuing protests across the country over the weekend, one singer decided to stand up to her performance at a Dodgers game amid continuing her dissatisfaction and customs enforcement raid in Los Angeles.
Vanessa Hernandez’s full net Neza performed the song on Saturday. She said she plans to sing the US national anthem in the Spanglish first, but in the ongoing migrant raid she decides to sing in Spanish only.
She says an employee on the team told her not to do so. It didn’t discourage her and played the song in Spanish anyway.
“I didn’t really see any issues with it and I wanted people to know that I was with them and I was standing by them,” Netza told CNN on Tuesday.
Unidentified people who say Netza is an employee of the Dodgers can be heard in the video telling the singer, “I’m trying to do a song in English today, so I don’t know if that wasn’t broadcast.”
The video that Nezza shared on Tiktok now has over 12 million views.
Nezza plays the national anthem in Spanish in Dodgers Games
About 2 weeks ago In the game, Netza said she and her team are asking the Dodger team to send an email to sing the national anthem in both languages. “It all started to unfold and when we got closer to that day, the raid was like everything, it was like a few days before. In fact, I was going to do it entirely in Spanish.”
In response, Nezza said the Dodgers sent out a PDF file that passed the song’s guidelines, but did not say no to her request.
In an email to the team, Netza said her manager said the history of the song and why she felt it was important to sing that version. The song’s version is titled “Erpendon Estrellado,” and was written by Clotilde Arias after the Department of State’s Cultural Cooperation, according to the Smithsonian, in 1945, after requesting submission for the translation of “Star Spagld Banner” in Spanish and Portuguese.
It was all part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “good neighbours policy” against Latin America.
Following her performance, a Dodgers employee (she won’t name her) was called Nezza’s manager and was called almost immediately, told not to call or send emails again, and according to the singer, their clients were not welcome.
The Dodgers did not answer CNN questions, but in a statement said in a statement that there was “no results or difficult feelings” regarding Neza’s performance.
Netza said he had not been contacted by the team and would not be re-entering the stadium. “I’m not welcome to come back,” she said.
Her parents are immigrants from Colombia and the Dominican Republic, and Neza says she became a US citizen when she was young.
Her parents are “overjoyed” by her performance, the singer said.
Neza added that many of the fans on the team are Latino, saying, “The lyrics are the same, I was still singing as American I’m proud of.”
Her performance came on the same day protesters filled streets across the country for “no Kings” protests, and Los Angeles’ frustration continued due to the ice attacks that have occurred within the past few weeks.
The team has not spoken outwardly about the ongoing frustrations of the ongoing immigration crackdown occurring in the city, but star-player dodger player Quique Hernandez, a Puerto Rican native, showed support for Los Angeles in an Instagram post.
“I am saddened and angry about what is going on in our country and in our city,” Hernandez said in part. “Fans in Los Angeles and the Dodger welcomed me, supported me, showed me nothing but kindness and love.”
“This is my second home and I can’t see our community being violated, profiled, abused and torn,” he added. “Everyone deserves to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.”
