Black Teen In Texas Expelled From School For Refusing To Stand For The Pledge Of Allegiance

First lets just say the Pledge of Allegiance was never for Black people in general. Taking out a paragraph from a slave song is not going to make a difference. If you feel strongly about being proud of your country and want people to stand, make America better and re-do the whole song and maybe we'll consider it. I hope this young lady wins her lawsuit since what her school did was highly illegal. 

“Following Barnette and other related cases, the following guidelines are clear:

1. Schools cannot require students to recite the Pledge or stand for the Pledge (including standing silently while other students recite the Pledge).
2. Students cannot be required to leave the room while other students recite the Pledge, obtain parental approval to be exempt from reciting the Pledge, or explain or justify themselves if they choose not to recite the Pledge.
3. To be entirely clear, schools may wish to inform students that they have the right not to participate in the Pledge. Even if they do not, teachers may not lecture students about patriotism or respect for the flag or the like if a student refuses to stand, as a way to influence students to participate.”

It says it all right here, you can click here to read more. So can schools really force our children to stand? No. However I think Private Schools have a better chance of getting away with it so be careful. 

THE STORY

In 2017, an African-American high school teen in Texas was expelled because she refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. According to the Houston Chronicle, India Landry, a senior at Windfern High School, was inspired by NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem to protest the killings of unarmed black men, women and children by police. So she sat during the Pledge of Allegiance. Her teacher decided that because Landry wouldn’t stand to honor the flag that she should be sent to the office.

When Windfern High School Principal Martha Strother saw Landry sitting as the Pledge of Allegiance played over the intercom, she told her to stand. When Landry did not follow orders, she was expelled and told to leave school grounds or Strother would call the police, which sounds a bit extreme, but this is Texas which is like saying, this is Jim Crow’s America.

“I felt the flag doesn’t represent what it stands for, liberty and justice for all and I don’t feel what is going on in the country, so it was my choice to remain seated, silently,” Landry told the Chronicle. “It was a silent protest.”

According to KUT News, the expulsion was lifted some days after it was given and Landry was let back into school with little to no explanation. Landry’s mom, Kizzy Landry, who fully supported her daughter’s decision not to stand for a flag and recite a pledge that she feels like doesn’t apply to her or her people, filed a lawsuit accusing “the principal, vice principal, secretary and two teachers of violating Landry’s rights to free speech, equal protection and due process and of singling her out because she was black,” the Chronicle reports.

What does any of this have to do with the Texas attorney general? Nothing. But that didn’t stop State Attorney General Ken Paxton from adding his voice to the mix and claiming that Landry’s parents had the right to submit a statement excusing their child from standing for the pledge but notes that they never submitted one.

“The document mentions the ‘time-honored tradition’ of rising to honor the flag, citing a Supreme Count finding that government has an interest in preserving ‘the national flag as an unalloyed symbol of our country,’” The New York Daily News reports. 

You can read the full and complete story by clicking here.