I will not stand for the pledge
I refuse to stand for, let alone speak, the pledge.
Because I do not feel pride, honour, or respect
for this country or its government.
My peers, they rise
But I, I remain in my seat.
I sit in silence
as they begin to speak,
“I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic
for which it stands
one Nation under God,
indivisible,
with liberty
and justice
for all.”
I refuse to stand for the pledge.
And when I hear those words I feel anger, contempt
Because I know that if I don’t go bankrupt from student debt
Then the world's most expensive health care will be what drives me over the edge.
I refuse to stand for the pledge
For I am ashamed to call myself an American.
Ashamed of the pain America’s inflicted
on virtually every gender, race, and religion.
America has hunted, lynched, pillaged, murdered, discriminated, and raped.
It started with the Native Americans when the white man came
and it extended to black people when America decided it was okay to enslave.
We do it to women when we tell them the kitchen is their place,
and until very recently we did not even entertain the thought
that maybe, just maybe
LGBTQ+ are part of the human race.
We locked up Japanese-Americans in a fence-cage
And we locked away Muslims with a ban our very own president put into place.
When our Jewish brothers and sisters in Europe fled to us fearing for their lives,
We turned them away
And turned a blind eye
to their genocide.
And you cannot tell me that now these people, the American people, have their rights
For the same reason you cannot tell me that we stand “one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
I’m not extremely religious, so correct me if I’m wrong
But God would never permit such horrid crimes as the ones
that stain my pale lineage with crimson blood.
Tell me, how are we indivisible
When police, those meant to protect, butcher based on race?
When my parents warn me to not disclose that I’m a Jew when I go to intern in D.C.
because they’re afraid what might happen if those in the Capitol know what I believe?
Tell me, where is the liberty
If I am free to love who I want because I’m not LGBTQ+
but it is not universal in all 50 states, the freedom of love?
Tell me, where is the justice
If the rich can buy their way out of murder or rape,
But an innocent man is convicted and sentenced to prison
just because he is poor or because of his skin’s pigment?
I will not ridicule my peers for those 31 words
But I will not stand and recite words that praise
A land that deserves something far stronger than disgrace.
To do so would be a crime
To myself, my fellow women
To everything I belief in, to my own religion.
And yet, it is more than that still
Because I am not just a woman,
I am not just a Jew,
I am who I love too.
I am white
But I am also who I love
And I love my best friends Diamond and Cece both of whom are mixed.
I am cis (aka straight),
But I am also who I love
And I love my sister who identifies a different way.
So no
No I will not stand for, let alone speak, the pledge.
I refuse to so as much as give it any respect.