Reply to Did saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school mean anything to you?

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes.  It meant that I was being encouraged to lie -- or that the government was telling me to lie, possibly so that I would believe the lies that we were collectively reciting.

I attended a racially segregated elementary school where "Brown vs Bd of Ed" hadn't changed much.  I remember saying to a teacher, "it says: 'and Justice for All' and that's not true".  The teacher did not respond directly to my comment, but, instead, spoke with me about the importance of showing respectful behavior.

I don't remember saying the pledge in school after I left elementary school.  I later worked in schools, and was struck by the images of young children, dressed in uniforms, parroting this "pledge" -- often in communities that still hadn't received "Justice for All".  For me, rather than feeling some communal sense of patriotism or loyalty or identity, saying the Pledge of Allegiance is one of the things that made me question the supposed ideals of America vs my own reality and experiences from a very early age.

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