Why you shouldnt stand for the pledge

December 18, 2018|2,334 Views

Yes, it is a unifying factor for the country

The Pledge of Allegiance is said at every school across Virginia, according to state law. It’s a symbol of patriotism and respect while summarizing the points of what the U.S. stands for, in theory.

Many do not understand the importance of the pledge and the meaning behind it, so they question why they should stand. As an American, I believe it shouldn’t even be a debate whether or not we stand.

We stand for the flag in order to honor those who fight, who have fought and who have died to protect our freedom and safety. We stand for the pledge to focus on what unites us as Americans not divides us. We stand for the flag not to pledge allegiance to a president, but to honor the reality that we have an elected president and not a lifetime king.

When I look at America and the pledge, I also look at other countries such as Iran and North Korea. Oppressive countries like those that don’t allow anyone to publicly disrespect national symbols.

People that take these freedoms for granted are foolishly disrespecting what binds us together as Americans. Sitting during the pledge and kneeling for the anthem is not the correct time to protest racial injustice. The flag, pledge, and anthem stand for more than that, and some people fail to realize that.

Some of these people are like blind sheep following each other. There are reasons why some students don’t stand, but those are only a few intelligent students that think with reasoning. Most students are lazy and when asked why they don’t stand they reply with “I don’t know, I just don’t feel like it.”

Several Supreme Court decisions have codified that no one has to recite the pledge, let alone stand when it is recited. That is your right as a citizen. I agree with it being voluntary because a forced recital would be like something done in a Nazi society.

The act of sitting during a national unifying pledge to the country that grants you individual freedoms is not only stupid but it is also self-defeating and misdirected.

Then again, in most places, sitting and not standing is more of a statement about yourself than about America. You don’t come off as too smart, instead you come off as ignorant and ungrateful to the rights you are given.

No, students have freedom of speech

The United States of America is a free and democratic nation. There are no laws requiring students to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Therefore, students should not feel compelled to do something they do not want to do. Under the rules of a democracy, it is wrong to force someone to speak or do what they don’t want to do.

It’s important to note that students who don’t participate in the pledge aren’t doing so just because they are lazy or because they don’t care about the country. There are a multitude of reasons.

Many students see an issue with blindly professing an allegiance to a country. You should not have to pledge allegiance to a country that is doing things you do not agree with. For that reason, many students have chosen to not stand for the pledge because they disagree with the policies of the current president, Donald Trump.

Another reason students choose not to stand for the pledge is the phrase “One nation, under God.” One important element of freedom in the U.S. is freedom of religion. The U.S. may have a majority of people who are monotheistic, but that doesn’t mean that everyone believes we are united under one god. In fact, the phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 by President Eisenhower. At the time, the Cold War was gaining steam, and Eisenhower was fighting communism across the globe. Back then, atheism was associated with communism, so he added “under God” to further separate the U.S. from the ideas of communism. But, this phrase just simply isn’t as relevant nowadays, and is the reason many students choose not to stand for the pledge.

Many students also find issue with the phrase “with liberty and justice for all.” Many feel America discriminates against race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, so on and so forth. The idea of pledging allegiance to a country that doesn’t support them is ridiculous to them.

Whatever the reason, students should not feel obligated to stand for the pledge. Even if a teacher claims it’s mandatory, the reality is, students can choose whether or not they want to stand for the pledge.

Transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau once wrote, "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." This opinion piece posits that America is continually becoming better, and it's only because of those who have the courage to speak out against injustice where it exists.

April 8, 2019

I learned the Pledge of Allegiance in kindergarten, at the age of five. It is so ingrained in my head that I could recite it in my sleep. And now, eleven years later, I no longer stand up at the beginning of each school day and pledge my allegiance to the United States of America. I remain in my seat.

Why?

Here’s my reasoning: I refuse to pledge my allegiance to my country if my country does not pledge its allegiance to us Americans. All Americans.

The flag does not stand for black people. Gay people. People with disabilities and diseases. Immigrants. Assaulted women and rape survivors. Children shot in schools and people shot in streets. Minorities. Victims.

The part of the pledge that bothers me the most is the very end: “…with liberty, and justice for all.”

I do not consider a racist, sexist, homophobic, and discriminative judicial system to provide “justice for all.” Nor do I consider racist, sexist, homophobic, and discriminatory government policies a promise to that statement. Never in the United State’s history has the country done things in a fair way. We were built on hatred. 241 years and the 2016 presidential election later, the government still enforces a cruel prejudice against minorities and victims.

The flag did not stand for black people when the United States enslaved them and later enforced Jim Crow laws. Today, the American black community fears every single day that they might get shot unarmed in their cars or blamed for crimes they didn’t commit. White supremacist organizations such as the KKK still exist in the United States, and President Donald Trump does nothing to condemn them.

The flag does not stand for women, because for the longest time, strict laws were made confining women and their bodies; historically, women were belittled to the point where they weren’t even allowed to wear bathing suits or play tennis. The United States made it so that women could not vote, and people had to fight incredibly hard for this so called “justice.” Past and present, the American government shames and restrains women from attaining abortions and making decisions about their own bodies. And, furiously, I make this reminder: in 2018, the Supreme Court allowed a person accused of sexual assault and attempted rape to become one of the most powerful figures in American politics. If the flag stood for women, then women would have the ability to make decisions for their own bodies and rapists would be sentenced what they deserve.

The flag does not stand for the LGBTQ+ community. It has endured violence and prejudice since the very beginning. It wasn’t until Barack Obama’s presidency that legal marriage became an option, and there are only 14 states in America that protect youth from conversion therapy. A person’s sexual orientation can result in employment discrimination in 28 states, and even more when it comes to people’s gender identity. In 2019 alone, Donald Trump attempted to prohibit transgender people from joining the military, which the Supreme Court just recently approved of. The social standards of America do not look at the LGBTQ+ community as human beings; what makes it such a tragedy is that the government doesn’t either.

The flag does not stand for immigrants. The issue of immigration is a difficult topic to discuss, but the treatment of human beings, especially ones seeking asylum, isn’t. Human beings should not be held in cages, deprived of proper food and water, or separated from their families. Yet, the United States views these refugees as animals. Besides immigrants at the borders, America is full of generational immigrants struggling to find a place of acceptance from within. Racism and xenophobia comes to play here, with the social norm tending to be a disgusted view of diversity. Donald Trump and the government refuses to be of aid, and on the contrary fuels the fire under an “animal vs. human being” concept. The immigrants that make up America and the ones asking for its help are included in the “justice for all” statement–but the flag still doesn’t stand for them.

The list goes on. The flag waves only for the Americans who never got hurt. How can you expect me to stand and pledge my allegiance to it?

America is a place of pride. “Disrespecting” the flag earned me horrible glares and a potential authoritative talking-to. I can never promise that protesting won’t come without consequences; but I can promise that the consequences are worth it. By refusing to stand, you are standing up.

The original version of this article can be found in Affinity Magazine.

About the Writer

Abigail Gallen, Staff Writer

My name is Abigail Gallen, and I am a sophomore at North Allegheny. One of my biggest passions is politics/activism, and most of my stories are politically...

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