One of the most callous moves by the Trump administration has been President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind former President Barack Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Now, around 800,000 young adults, known as DREAMers, who are American-raised, American-educated, and American in every sense of the word, may face deportation if action is not taken before March 5, 2018.
Upon rescinding DACA, Trump called for Congress to enact a fix, but so far, it has failed to take substantive action. So on Nov. 9, hundreds of students staged walkouts and rallied at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., to urge Congress to protect DREAMers.
“It’s been a year and what has [Trump] done?” Bruna Distinto, a senior at Trinity Washington University and a DREAMer, told NBC. “We want to call attention to Congress that something needs to get done, that a DREAM Act needs to pass and not wait until next year,” she said.
Students are WALKING OUT in support of immigrants and demanding for a clean #DreamActNow!
— United We Dream (@UNITEDWEDREAM) November 9, 2017
We need a clean Dream Act! We need to protect immigrant youth! pic.twitter.com/xoTC2ajTtu
We're on Capitol Hill demanding a clean #DreamActNow. pic.twitter.com/6wXSCbFpnB
— ACLU (@ACLU) November 9, 2017
Happening now: GW students walking out to join @UNITEDWEDREAM’s rally calling for a clean Dream Act. #DreamActNOW pic.twitter.com/sgxaqHUA0E
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) November 9, 2017
Operation Clean #DreamActNow! pic.twitter.com/u2s8sTHiO6
— LUCHA (@LUCHA_AZ) November 9, 2017
Over 90% of Dreamers are employed.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) November 9, 2017
Dreamers pay close to $2B in taxes annually.
Deporting 800K Dreamers would cost almost $10B.
Losing DACA workers would result in $433B drop in GDP over next decade.
A clean Dream ACT is not only compassionate, but common sense.#DreamActNow
The students are calling for Congress to pass a “clean” DREAM Act that would include a pathway to citizenship with permanent protection without dangerous enforcement add-ons. “I’m here to stay; we’re not going anywhere; this is my home,” said Distinto, who was brought to the U.S. from Bolivia at the age of 6. “I really don’t remember much about Bolivia; I’m not going anywhere.”
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) is introducing a bill known as the Border Security and Deferred Action Recipient Relief Act that would beef up border security while offering permanent for protections for DACA recipients. On the other side of the aisle, 25 House Democrats have threatened to vote against the upcoming spending bill unless Congress passes the DREAM Act. Failure to pass the spending bill would result in a government shutdown.
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You may have missed the actual meaning behind these 5 popular songs.
'Every breath you ...' what? 5 classic songs where people totally missed the meaning
I’ve never been a "lyrics guy"—as long as the words sound pleasing to the ear, are relatively interesting, and aren’t evil or distractingly dumb, I don’t care all that much what the singer is going on about. I’m focused on the dynamics, the color of the arrangements, the rhythms, and harmonies. It’s only natural that I’d misinterpret some songs over the years, including ones that I’ve heard a thousand times while walking around malls and supermarkets.
I know I’m not alone. And I’d argue there are plenty of factors behind this phenomenon: Some people take lyrics too literally, while others only focus on hooky choruses and fail to notice nuance in the verses. Context can also blind us—if the music is danceable and upbeat, you might fail to catch darker elements in the words. Still, it can be hilarious and/or shocking when hugely popular tunes are misinterpreted on a mass scale.
Speaking of which: Let’s consult a viral Reddit thread titled "Any songs that are (or were) misunderstood by the public?" There's a mountain of suggestions—everything from '90s Latin-pop hits to '80s heartland-rock epics. But five of them felt especially perfect, so let’s dig a little deeper below.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The Police - "Every Breath You Take" (1983)
As someone argues in the comments, "Pointing out the real meaning behind 'Every Breath You Take' has to have become so commonplace that it can't really be misunderstood anymore." Point taken. But still…this eerie Police track continues to be used in pop culture and everyday life as a signifier of romance—appearing as the soundtrack to TV slow dances and being arranged for weddings by string quartets. It’s easy to assume, at first glance anyway, that the song's protagonist is pledging their devotion—sticking around for "every breath" their partner takes. Instead, the atmosphere is more disturbing, given the whole "I’ll be watching you" thing. "I didn't realize at the time [I wrote it] how sinister it is," Sting told The Independent in 1993. "I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance, and control."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Bruce Springsteen - "Born in the U.S.A." (1984)
"Born in the U.S.A." is one of Bruce Springsteen's signature songs—but also likely his most misinterpreted. As an official explainer video notes, the words "center around America's industrial decline and loss of innocence during the Vietnam War"—a message that became somewhat diluted as politicians began using the stadium-sized track for their campaigns. "Conservative commenters praised the song, and it earned the approval of both candidates in the 1984 presidential election," the clip's narrator adds. "Despite being adopted as a patriotic anthem, 'Born in the U.S.A.' is far from nationalistic." In a deep-dive piece, NPR quotes Springsteen talking about the song on stage: "'After it came out, I read all over the place that nobody knew what it was about,' he said before performing 'Born in the U.S.A' to a crowd in 1995. 'I'm sure that everybody here tonight understood it."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Los Del Rio - "Macarena" (Bayside Boys remix) (1995)
Most Americans probably know the bubbly Bayside Boys remix of Los Del Rio's Spanish-language hit—it became the marquee moment of many a mid-'90s wedding reception and middle-school dance, thanks to its once-ubiquitous choreography. Maybe it's because people were too distracted by remembering the dance moves, but lots of us didn’t notice the lyrics. Of course, the chorus is in Spanish, which could have been a barrier for some, but the remix features English lines like the following: "Now don't you worry about my boyfriend / The boy whose name is Vitorino / Ha! I don't want him, can't stand him / He was no good so I, ha ha ha / Now come on, what was I supposed to do? / He was out of town, and his two friends were so fine."
"My little teenage mind was blown when I learned 'Macarena' was about cheating on a boyfriend with his friends," one Redditor wrote. "[Thank you] for the correction, it was 2 friends! Was sleep deprived writing this. I just did the moves, never questioned the lyrics." Yeah, gotta admit—this legitimately never crossed my mind either. Same with some of the people who took part in a reaction video for Distracify: "It’s definitely about dancing," one person said, before learning the truth. Another added, "I have no idea what it’s about still to this day. Please tell me it’s not something really dark."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Baha Men - "Who Let the Dogs Out" (2000)
The party was nice. The party was pumpin'.' Until, that is, some "flea-infested mongrels" got involved. Back in 2000, you couldn't escape Baha Men's booming cover of "Who Let the Dogs Out"—it became a staple of sporting events everywhere, a kind of bookend for the Jock Jams era. "I know I definitely misunderstood 'Who Let the Dogs Out' to be about actual dogs," one Redditor wrote, likely speaking for most of the listening public. There's probably a good chance most of those people chanting the chorus weren't thinking about the song's real meaning, crafted by Trinidadian artist Anslem Douglas for his 1998 original. But if you pay attention to the lyrics, "Who Let the Dogs Out" has a feminist theme, telling the story of women who stand up against crass catcalling. "This is going to be a revenge song where a woman tells men, 'Get away from me—you're a dog,'" Douglas told Vice in a 2021 video history of the track. "[Offensive] slang was everywhere. It was just degrading women and calling them all sorts of derogatory names. I tried to do a social commentary as a party song, but the party song overshadowed the social commentary aspect of it."
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Hozier - "Take Me to Church" (2013)
One section of the Reddit thread is devoted to songs interpreted as pro-religion, when the truth is... well, more complicated. "'Take Me to Church' by Hozier is often used by Churches for things, and I’m like 'Oh, that’s not…,'" wrote one user. The bluesy, slow-burning ballad may use religious imagery. Still, it's about something more human—"[It's] this idea that powerful organizations use people’s sexuality in order to mobilize people against women, against gay people," the Irish songwriter told Genius in 2023. "And the justification behind that is often religious in nature." Hozier even isolated one particular lyric that highlights this misconception: "'She tells me, ‘Worship in the bedroom' [is] something tongue-and-cheek, a bit of humor to it, also revealing that this is not necessarily a traditional worship song," he said. "I think I still see my name put into playlists for Christian music, and I’m not averse to that—I don’t think the two are necessarily mutually exclusive. But that line I would’ve thought would’ve disqualified it from something like that."