Pro: Students shouldn’t have to rise for the flag

socialist minister Francis Bellamy who published his pledge in The Youth’s Companion on Thursday, Sept. 8, 1892, hoping that it would be adopted worldwide.

Additionally, U.S. History.org said that Bellamy’s pledge didn’t include “the flag of the United States of America” or “under God” as those phrases were omitted much later.

And alarming enough, U.S History.org mentioned that Bellamy uses the military salute and during World War II, this was changed to “put your right hand over your heart” as Bellamy’s salute resembled too much of the Nazi salute.

So if the Pledge of Allegiance has evolved during the times of civil unrest and global conflict, why couldn’t people change their stance on enforcing that pledge onto students?

Because it’s tradition? But the pledge had been changed to accommodate the times.

And it doesn’t help that the United States has a track record of negatively impacting several communities, especially the Indigenous and Black communities.

The Department of the Interior has identified 53 residential schools that have unmarked burial sites of children, with 500 confirmed deaths from 19 schools, and officials expect the number to rise to thousands if not ten thousands, according to The Washington Post.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the U.S. has never properly addressed the exploitation and gross human rights violation of enslavement of Black people nor the ongoing discrimination with policies that prevent Black people from accessing adequate health care, housing, education, employment opportunities and treatment.

And let’s not forget the countless tragedies that happened in the U.S. history such as the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, The Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Internment Camps and the colonization of the Pacific Islands just to name a few.

Under these circumstances, when the U.S. has harmed those communities in countless ways, why should it be that young kids have to salute the flag that symbolizes their nation as wholesome for everyone?

Native Americans don’t respect people hold against each other, no matter how they feel about it versus how you feel about it. jkuklin.roundupnews@gmail.com the flag when this nation has taken their land away and prioritized erasing their people, culture and heritage, and still does so with their descendants. Black people don’t respect the flag because of how their people are still being treated, along with others who face similar sentiments about this nation. Although there will be people who disagree, teachers reprimanding students who don’t stand up disregard what those students sit down for and imposing kids to follow this age-old tradition is simply unconstitutional. pkalidasan.roundupnews@gmail.com

People have the right to express their views on the Pledge of Allegiance, but in the end, we should not be kneeling down for it. Why? Because it is not the way to show respect for the American flag as American citizens.

The Pledge of Allegiance is not only for the President, nor is it for the people who had to make sacrifices to make America the way it was—The Pledge of Allegiance is for everyone.