Los Angeles Times (TNS) Marissa Barnwell failed to show sufficient deference to the Pledge of Allegiance. And for that, she was punished. She was walking quietly down the hall at River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina, where she is in ninth grade. The daily over-the-intercom recitation of the pledge began but Barnwell kept walking . A teacher called to her several times, she says, but when she didn’t stop to recite the pledge — or at least acknowledge it by standing still — the teacher grabbed her, pushed her up against the wall and eventually sent her to the principal. The principal asked her, "Don’t you love your country?" Barnwell says she has chosen not to pledge allegiance to the flag because she doesn’t believe "liberty and justice" are applied fairly or equitably in the United States. And that is her right, thanks to the U.S. Constitution. In fact it’s shocking that more than 70 years after the Supreme Court ruled clearly on the subject, there are still teachers who don’t understand that simple reality. I’d go even further and add that it’s mystifying that the United States, which supposedly prizes freedom of thought, speech and opinion, […]
