Eleven-Year-Old Arrested For Not Standing During Pledge of Allegiance

An eleven-year-old boy at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Florida was arrested this because he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Oh, yes, he was. There was apparently some sort of back-and-forth between the child and teacher, a substitute teacher, but most of what we know is from the report the teacher gave, not from the boy,

That day, when the boy was told to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, he told the teacher that the flag is racist against black people, and she replied:

“Why if it was so  bad here he did not go to another place to live.”

America; love it or leave it. And apparently she knew the child was not from "here" because he was a “different” color so clearly he’s not one of “us”? But the young man wasn’t playing, and simply told his teacher he couldn’t go back where he came from because:

“They brought me here.”

And the teacher, an immigrant from another country, told the student:

“Well you can always go back, because I came here from Cuba and the day I feel I’m not welcome here anymore I would find another place to live.”

And then she called the principal's office because she “did not want to continue dealing with him.”

Dealing with him? It seems he dealt with you, because I wonder how this teacher from Cuba would feelif, as we’ve seen time and again, a white person told her to go home?

But then came the arrest. A school resource officer said the student threatened to beat the teacher , wouldn’t follow directions, and said the principal should be fired. The young man says he never threatened anyone, but still an 11-year-old child was arrested and charged with resisting arrest without violence and disrupting a school function; he was taken to a juvenile detention center.

For not standing.

And he had every right not to stand. A public relations specialist representing the Polk County Public Schools clarified that students may choose not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance but that the substitute teacher did not know this. But why not check with anyone else at the school, including the principal, before arresting a child? And after arresting the child the school released a statement saying the teacher was unaware of their policy, but that she “will no longer be allowed to substitute at any of our schools.“

But the child was arrested. In America, for taking a stand by not standing, and being allowed by their school to take that stand.

DailyKos

Texas School Denies Freedom of Speech

Yesterday the television was on at work, and, while it was on mute—“President” _____ was speaking so it’s best to have it on mute—I read the chiron where _____ was saying that NFL owners “must not allow” their players to take a knee during the national anthem. And I thought, if we start doing things that way, how many more of our freedoms and rights will the higher ups “not allow.”

Then I came across this story ...

At a recent student assembly at Midland High School in ... where else ... Texas, students were led to believe, or were told, that choosing to sit during the Pledge of Allegiance is against the law; it’s a crime, y’all.

Now, news reports aren’t clarifying what the presentation was all about, but there is no mistake that this slide ...

... was shown to students during the assembly. And officials from Midland High School claimed the slide was taken out of context, even though the message is quite clear.

Stand. Or else.

Now, even though school officials are saying the message was taken out of context, Woodrow Baily, a district official, said if students don’t want to stand for the pledge, they’re free to provide a note from their parents excusing them.

And that’s a lie, too. In 1943, when America was supposedly ‘great,’ the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects students from being forced to stand during the Pledge. It isn’t a crime to stay seated; it isn’t a crime to not place your hand over your heart; it isn’t a crime to kneel during the national anthem.

But some of those folks in positions of authority are trying to decide what they will “allow” people to do, from professional athletes to students in a school. And, if you’re okay with that, if you’re okay with losing your Freedom of Speech, how many more of your freedoms are you willing to lose because I guarantee if we keep on this way, one day none of us will be free to do or say anything.

And won’t America be great then?

DeadState