Every morning, students all over America stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. We pledge 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.” Unfortunately, this pledge is not always accurate. There have been countless times when liberty and justice were not provided for all, including, but not limited to, Black, Asian, Gay, Transgender, and Latino veterans.

The GI Bill was created in 1944 to help veterans of WWII afford college and buy homes. The bill was a stepping stone for veterans to gain access to the middle class. However, Black veterans were primarily denied access to the benefits of the GI Bill. Many Black veterans could not secure loans to buy homes, which contributed to the growth of homelessness and increased racial tension in America. Black veterans were not given the same opportunities as their white counterparts, and this has had a ripple effect throughout society. This is the only way to ensure that the pledge of “liberty and justice for all” is truly accurate. It is a travesty that the government has not done more to rectify this situation and to ensure that all veterans, regardless of race, have access to the same benefits. The government has a responsibility to all of its citizens, and it has failed in this regard. 

In 2010, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Repeal Act was passed and it ended the policy of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” This policy was put in place by President Bill Clinton and it banned openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people from serving in the military. The policy was harmful to many people, and it was finally repealed after years of activism from the LGBTQ community. The repeal of this policy was a major victory, but there is still more work to be done to fully support LGBTQ people in the military. In July 2017, President Trump tweeted that he would consider banning transgender people from serving in the military, and two years later he went ahead and did it. This ban is harmful, discriminatory, and goes against the values of the United States. This ban has been thankfully overturned, but it should not have been a ban in the first place.

The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was a Cold War-era proxy war that saw the United States support the South Vietnamese government against the Communist North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. The war was immensely unpopular and resulted in the death of over 58,000 American soldiers. The war also had a profound effect on the Vietnamese people, who were caught in the middle of a conflict that they did not understand. Asian American soldiers were some of the most affected by the Vietnam War. They faced racism from both the Vietnamese people and their own soldiers. Many Asian American soldiers were not given the same opportunities as their white counterparts, and they were often treated as second-class citizens.   In the years after the war, many Vietnamese refugees came to the United States, and they faced a great deal of discrimination. Asian American veterans of the Vietnam War also faced racism when they returned home. They were often treated like the enemy, and they struggled to find work and housing. The government needs to do more to support Asian American veterans and to make sure that they have access to the same benefits as other veterans.

On November 19, 1981, Ronald Reagan denied entry to Guatemalan immigrants fleeing the Guatemalan Civil War. Reagan justified his decision by saying that the immigrants were not “refugees” and that they did not meet the criteria for asylum. This decision was harmful and it caused many Guatemalan people to lose their lives. Reagan’s decision was also a direct violation of the United Nations Refugee Convention, which the United States had signed in 1967. The United States has a long history of denying asylum to those who need it the most. In recent years, the Trump administration has taken a similar stance on asylum seekers, particularly those from Central America.  The administration has made it more difficult for people to apply for asylum and it has tried to discourage people from seeking asylum by making the process more difficult. The administration has also separated children from their families and put them in detention centers. This policy is inhumane, and it goes against the values of the United States. The government needs to do more to support asylum seekers, not make it more difficult for them to seek asylum. 
 

In conclusion, there are many reasons why we should no longer recite the pledge of allegiance every morning. The language in the pledge is outdated, the words “under God” are polarizing, and the pledge itself is a vestige of a bygone era. Omitting the pledge from the school day would be a way to signal that our school is inclusive and welcoming to all students. In the past decade, schools have made a shift to become more inclusive. Teachers and school administrators have worked to create a curriculum and environment that is welcoming to all students, regardless of their religion, creed, or ethnicity. One way that they have tried to achieve this goal is by eliminating the Pledge of Allegiance from the morning announcements.  Although the Pledge of Allegiance is meant to be a patriotic gesture, it can have the opposite effect on some students. And I know people would not support a muslin prayer every morning.