A Parent's Thoughts On Her Children Sitting Through The Pledge Of Allegiance by Rachael Quinn Egan

When asked about my decision to send a letter to teachers to say that my children will sit through the pledge in future:- for background - I am white my daughters are POC and have been watching the NFL protests as well as having a very in-depth education on race in this country. We are big on history in our house. When we take vacations and we visit the sites of founding fathers for example -we spend a lot more time in the enslaved peoples quarters - that is the spot my kids wonder WHY and HOW the most in.

My children know that POC get killed by police officers with impunity because we have a teenager also whom we have had "the talk" with because she drives etc. -she came home to us through adoption at 13 and stopped saying the pledge in CSJ at MHS of her own volition. I have been on a very sharp learning curve myself to ensure that my daughters feel empowered and prepared to live in this country. I worry that they are already disadvantaged in not having had parents who are also POC to raise them with all their more informed life experience. I work hard not to whitewash or brainwash them with my white experience which is so different from what theirs will be certainly once they leave home and my umbrella of privilege. They already feel that the pledge is a disservice to their own race. I only regret I allowed this pledging to go on so long for my youngest two into 4th and 6th grades. It is really ridiculous and dangerous and I think it changes the way Americans react to leadership- I come from a free and democratic country too (Ireland) where we are far more vocal about our politicians and our reporters are far less malleable in interviews (google the time an Irish reporter interviewed GW Bush and how shocked he looked) and I suspect it's because we have not been wrapped in the flag since kindergarten.

Perhaps I see all of this very differently because I did not grow up here and have a very different perspective. As a child, I only saw pledging as a thing that happened in dictatorships.

Letter:

Dear wonderful teachers;
Our daughter >>>>>>, does not want to stand for or take the pledge at school. Until our president and the rest of this nation works to create actual liberty and justice for all I wish for her to be able to sit it out quietly and hope that she will feel supported by her teachers to express her first amendment right. She is the kind of child who wishes to please her elders and works very hard and is a little afraid that she will be seen to be a “troublemaker” when she is quite the opposite. She is really a good and kind-hearted child, but she and the rest of her family can no longer tolerate empty words while people of color are being betrayed by our nation. I have explained that her teachers are kind and will understand and that she will not get into trouble.
Many thanks and warm regards,
Rachael Quinn Egan