I once wrote an essay last century deriding the bumper stickers "Proud to be An American."
In St. Louis high school 1962, I protested saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag every morning (under god) was my complaint. Surprisingly, no one tried to force it on me (A 1940 Supreme Court decision said they could not.) However, backwate…
I once wrote an essay last century deriding the bumper stickers "Proud to be An American."
In St. Louis high school 1962, I protested saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag every morning (under god) was my complaint. Surprisingly, no one tried to force it on me (A 1940 Supreme Court decision said they could not.) However, backwater schools were still trying to enforce patriotism, and a few brave students challenged it, so I made a more realistic pledge. That was 2002, this is the updated when DADT & DOMA were defeated in 2011 & 2015. When they remove that divisive "under god" I may recite it again.
Questions of Allegiance
Rob Boyte
June 26, 2015
Why pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, or to the Republic for which it stands, that allowed slavery until 1863, denied women the vote until 1920, segregated its armed forces by race until 1948, persecuted political minorities throughout the 1950s, and into the 21st Century still denied full rights to homosexuals to serve in its military until 2011 or to reap the benefits of marriage until 2015?
One nation, indivisible would not disfranchise its Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists or others who do not accept the archaic concept of a "god" by forcing them to read "in god we trust" on every coin of a supposed secular state. "We" do not all agree that ours is a nation "under god" and for the religious majority to assume such is a most divisive insult.
With Liberty and Justice for all, except of course those too poor to afford a slick lawyer in the court system, too black to be presumed innocent by the police or too in love with someone of the same gender.
I once wrote an essay last century deriding the bumper stickers "Proud to be An American."
In St. Louis high school 1962, I protested saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag every morning (under god) was my complaint. Surprisingly, no one tried to force it on me (A 1940 Supreme Court decision said they could not.) However, backwater schools were still trying to enforce patriotism, and a few brave students challenged it, so I made a more realistic pledge. That was 2002, this is the updated when DADT & DOMA were defeated in 2011 & 2015. When they remove that divisive "under god" I may recite it again.
Questions of Allegiance
Rob Boyte
June 26, 2015
Why pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, or to the Republic for which it stands, that allowed slavery until 1863, denied women the vote until 1920, segregated its armed forces by race until 1948, persecuted political minorities throughout the 1950s, and into the 21st Century still denied full rights to homosexuals to serve in its military until 2011 or to reap the benefits of marriage until 2015?
One nation, indivisible would not disfranchise its Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists or others who do not accept the archaic concept of a "god" by forcing them to read "in god we trust" on every coin of a supposed secular state. "We" do not all agree that ours is a nation "under god" and for the religious majority to assume such is a most divisive insult.
With Liberty and Justice for all, except of course those too poor to afford a slick lawyer in the court system, too black to be presumed innocent by the police or too in love with someone of the same gender.
Very good.