Native American Student’s Grade Docked for Refusing to Say Pledge of Allegiance: ‘My People Risked Our Lives for Our Land, for Our Freedom’

‘Starting in second grade, California high school student Leilani Thomas has been refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. For years, she told Sacramento ABC affiliate KXTV, she’s been quietly affirming her First Amendment right to free speech, a right encompassing the freedom to dissent, to critique the powerful, to think and act as a self-determined human being.
Thomas is also Native American. As such, she has expressed complex feelings regarding the United States and its flag. Until now, however, there has been no incident, no controversy, no media coverage of steadfast actions borne of personal conviction. She is not a politician stumping for vote, or a selfie star hoping to gain followers. She is a teenage girl trying to make it through the social gauntlet of high school.’
Read more: Native American Student’s Grade Docked for Refusing to Say Pledge of Allegiance: ‘My People Risked Our Lives for Our Land, for Our Freedom’