Michigan’s independent citizens redistricting commission voted down a measure to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at its meetings following a contentious discussion during a meeting of the commissioners Thursday.
The motion to begin commission meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance was made by Commissioner Doug Clark, a 74-year-old Republican commissioner from Rochester Hills.
“I think it’s our patriotic duty to say it. I mean we’re part of this nation and I believe that’s the right thing to do,” Clark said.
Brittni Kellom, the 34-year-old Democratic commissioner from Detroit who chairs the commission, disagreed. “I don’t feel like that’s my American duty to say that,” she said. “I think that I can be an American and a great African-American and a great person without saying those words.”
The pledge of allegiance as well as the national anthem have stirred controversies over patriotism, freedom of speech and reckoning with injustice in the U.S. American athletes protesting police brutality and racism by kneeling during the national anthem at sporting events drew national attention during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Pointing to such controversies, commissioners raised concerns that reciting the pledge would divide the commission and create a heated atmosphere at public hearings where the group of randomly selected citizens in charge of drawing new congressional and legislative districts will solicit input from communities across the state.
Commissioner Rebecca Szetela, a 47-year-old independent commissioner from Canton, said her biggest concern was that reciting the pledge would prove “unnecessarily divisive.” She worried about public meetings in which people might sit during the pledge, creating a hostile atmosphere among members of the public in attendance.
“We want everybody to feel comfortable,” she said.
Dustin Witjes, a 31-year-old Democratic commissioner from Ypsilanti, said that if the commission began its meetings with the pledge, he would turn his camera off and stay silent.
Clark found support for the measure among other Republican commissioners. Rhonda Lange, a 48-year-old Republican commissioner from Reed City, told a story about a friend who had a 22-year-old son who came home from Iraq in a casket wrapped in an American flag.
“He loved this country and that’s what that flag represents,” she said. “I think saying the pledge is just basically saying that we’re all American, let’s come together, let’s treat each other respectfully.”
But M.C. Rothhorn, a 48-year-old Democratic commissioner from Lansing, worried it would divide the group. “I know the intention behind this is to say, ‘let’s unite,’ and it feels like the conversation we are having leads me to believe it won’t unite us,” Rothhorn said.
The motion to recite the pledge at commission meetings was ultimately voted down 5-7 with Republican commissioner Cynthia Orton, 55, of Battle Creek, abstaining.
Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at [email protected] or 313-296-5743 for comments or to suggest a fact-check. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan redistricting commission votes down measure to recite Pledge of Allegiance
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“I think that I can be an American and a great African-American and a great person without saying those words.”
You cannot be a great American and refuse to say them. And that is what is needed now, great Americans.
This refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance is because Democrats DO NOT have allegiance to the U.S..
The dishonorable, dishonest, immoral, demonic Democrat Party ONLY has allegiance to themselves.
The dishonorable Democrat Party revolves around and its philosophy is based on Control, Hate, Lies, Cons, Deceptions, Immorality and the lack of Integrity, Ethics or Honor.
IF they want a reason to not have to say the Pledge, i say fine. HAND I N YOUR US citizenship and leave to a nation of your choice…
Exactly Ituser… If you can’t pledge an allegiance to the very ground you stand on… the country that keeps you free… the civilization that protects your inalienable rights to pursue happiness… then ….SORRY… you don’t deserve any of it…. get the hell out…PERIOD!
Just another example of how left wing liberals and blacks have no respect for this country. Wonder how all these blacks would have made out if Lincoln had stuck to his original thought and put them on ships and sent them and all their offspring back to whatever country or Island they or their forefathers originally came from. Sure would have made this a better country for all of us.
AND neither should that nation PAY YOU anymore..
If Michigan does not want to be part of America, fine ! Cut off ALL their Federal funds as they are no longer part of the USA.
Why to people continue to “proclaim” their ancestry as a reason to NOT unite as AMERICANS?! Dare I say, nearly all nationalities have been discriminated against at some time in this nation’s history. So, why do people continue to intentionally use their ancestry as a point of division, instead of moving from this day forward. The past CANNOT be miraculously erased! PERIOD! My ancestors were treated poorly at one point, BUT I find absolutely NO purpose whatsoever in seeking “revenge” from people living today who had absolutely NO part in past discrimination towards them. WE ALL must move forward as ONE PEOPLE of ONE NATION — The United States of America! By all means celebrate your ancestry, BUT don’t try to use it as a source of power and discrimination over others who are not of your ancestral home. Proud to have been able to help keep this Nation safe from foreign enemies; and proud to stand, salute and proclaim:
“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.”
TO ME if you put ANYTHING before “american”, you are NOT a patriot.
Maybe too much sun light reflecting off Whitmer’s forehead fried her brains, if she ever had any.
Won’t pledge allegiance to the country that has given them everything they have including the right to disagree with those who gladly pledge allegiance. They want all of the benefits without any of the responsibilities.
However, hang a Chinese flag or BLM banner up there and these non-patriots will be first in line to pledge allegiance.
I’m sure there are plenty of donors to provide one-way airfare so they can get to a “better” country of their choice.
Which is why for a long time, i’ve felt, that if SOMEONE REFUSES to say the pledge, or Honor our anthem/flag, fine. STRIP THEM OF THEIR citizenship publicly, and KICK THEM the hell out of the nation!
Brittni Kellom, the 34-year-old Democratic commissioner from Detroit who chairs the commission, disagreed. “I don’t feel like that’s my American duty to say that,” she said. “I think that I can be an American and a great African-American and a great person without saying those words.” This is this woman’s opinion…. And she , like the rest of us have to remember, “Opinions are like rectal openings- everyone has one.
AND her’s stinks!!
We have one more good reason to vote them out of office. They are not working for the betterment of the country they claim to be citizens of.
WHEN have these commucrats EVER WORKED for the betterment of the nation?
Ah, Michigan. The “Great Lake” state. Not so great any more. Cancel culture wants to cancel the Pledge of Allegiance for fear of “offending” its own citizens. Just do us all a favor and move elsewhere if you’re not feelin’ the love.
No wonder kids are growing up violently and uneducated —only indoctrinated to the hateful dcemoncratic way of life. It’s ok kids to lie, cheat, steal rob, kill, and not be self-sufficient and earn a living. As the britch nutzy paloooozi said: “YOU DON’T NEED GOD, YOU HAVE US!” I PRAY EVERY DAY THAT SHE BURNS IN HELL FOR ETERNITY. IO PISCIO SULLA TUA TOMBA.
IMO this started in the mid 90s, when it seems that’s where kids being taught to HATE THE NATION started…
The late 1960’s.
Not long after Nikita Khrushchev publicly promised the left would destroy America from the inside.
In 1970, my senior high school year, I had four teachers fresh out of Berserkly. Adamantly un-patriotic.
When i was in school in the 80s, i certainly didn’t see any anti-americanism being taught.. BUT after i graduated, and heard from MANY fellows in the navy, THEIR kids certainly started seeing/hearing it… So to me, that put’s it squarely in the 90s.
From national to local elections the people being elected hate America. They have power over us and make laws that restrict us. Does this country have to decay and collapse before people realize it’s too late to do a darned thing about it. We pay their salary and they openly ‘give us the finger’.
Hence why to me, IF YOU HATE THIS NATION, as much as these cretins seem to, you shouldn’t be allowed to RUN FOR OFFICE IN IT!
This is what the Democrat party has done to America. The radicals, Liberals and Progressives have decided they no longer want to be true American Patriots and respect our God our Values and our Constitution!! The “wokeness has taken over. I know it was going on before to some degree but it became extreme when Obama was elected. He incited much of it. And then came along Hillary and all her hatred. And now we have a incompetent and brainless puppet in the white house being controlled by the spawn of satan. America is in real trouble. If conservatives (Republicans) dont get control again by the next Presidential election America will be lost forever. 🙁
The commissioners against reciting the pledge are not “Democratic”, they’re Democrats. There’s nothing democratic about them! They’d like nothing better than totalitarian control over the rest of us! Why can’t professional writers get this right? Don’t professional publications have editors anymore?
Apparently not.
So everyone should feel comfortable, they’re not going to say the pledge, that works for the people who don’t want to say it, because of course they get what they want. Are the people who do want to say it comfortable. If your not proud of this country, you shouldn’t be on the commission, you should not hold office.
NOR SHOULD YOU benefit from the RIGHTS and privileges this nation give to citizens of it..
The communist Democrats hate our Country.
Then why are federal electees required to swear to uphold the constitution? The “squad” in congress professed to overhaul the constitution, our economic, and social system and they are still there. Why?
BECAUSE
A) Oaths no longer matter
B) WE no longer have a GPO with a spine to challenge them
C) WE no longer have a justice dept to hold them ACCOUNTABLE for breaking their oaths..
Take your pick.
If they won’t recite the Pledge how about asking them to swear to uphold the Constitution?
SINCE 99% of dems, DESPISE our constitution i wouldn’t trust ANY OATH they swore on the constitution.. PERIOD.
How about dropping the American part, head back to Africa and be a good African.
See how that works out for you.
Anyone who says they are an AMERICAN should be proud to state that they are one unless? Teddy Roosevelt put it quite succinctly in 1907 about being a citizen. “Any one who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” By such actions as the pledge or kneeling for the National Anthem ones places one’s self outside that loyalty wherein they work within the totality of the American experience not aseparate from it.
PITY Roosevelt didn’t PUSH TO mandate English as our national language while he was saying that.
Has any one noted? Until this past election cycle you seldom–if ever saw a democrat function that had any American flag in the background. NO label pins. Obama and his disciples had his “Pepsi cola” badge on, but NEVER an American flag. Seems someone in the PR department they hired finally made a connection on how to sell their marxist history to the older mom and pops who were under the misconception that their old democrat party was still on their side. Now you see the red-white-and blue “prop” being shamelessly exploited by the party that has nothing but contempt for what it stands for.
YET they still support defacing our flag, Kneeling to are anthem, and DISRESPECTING our pledge…