She Sat Down for the Pledge of Allegiance, So Her Teacher Lowered Her Grades
I pledge allegiance to the flag of our invaders?
On the first day of the school year last month at Lower Lake High School in northern California, Leilani Thomas did what she usually does when her classmates recite the pledge. She stayed seated.
But for the first time in several years, her new teacher stopped and asked why she and a friend weren’t standing for the daily recital.
“She told me I was being disrespectful and I was pretty mad,” Thomas told KXTV. “She was being disrespectful to me also, saying I was making bad choices, and I don’t have the choice to sit during the pledge.”
Thomas, who is Native American, said she has been sitting out the pledge since she was a second grader, KPIX reported.
“It’s the reason, because of the history that happened here on my land, my people’s land,” Thomas told the news station in an interview on campus. “I go by that and I don’t agree with it. So I’m not going to stand for the people who did this to my people.”
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