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Editorial: I refuse to say the pledge under "President Trump"
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Editorial: I refuse to say the pledge under “President Trump”

Disclaimer: The views in this article do not reflect the views of Fossil Ridge High School or the Poudre School District. This is my opinion, and I mean no harm to anyone with another opinion, this is not meant to be an attack on the personal views of anyone else. The beliefs reflected in this article are completely my own, and I simply wanted to share my thoughts.

Now that Donald Trump is president, I refuse to say the pledge of allegiance. I don’t typically say the pledge anyway, in part because I never liked pointlessly reciting something that didn’t truly mean anything to me, but I will normally stand with the class because I don’t like being the only person seated. It’s a personal protest, in the same sort of way that a high school football player refused to stand during the Star Spangled Banner because he would not stand for a country that killed innocent black children with no justice. In the past, I would not succumb to saying the pledge because I dislike the notion that our country is in unity, when it most certainly is not. Now, I will not stand for a country that elects a man like Donald Trump for president.

I do not think Donald Trump is a good man. My personal definition of a good person is someone who accepts others and doesn’t attack them for who they are or what they believe in. Donald Trump has found no way around that. Yes, he’s a successful businessman, and in his campaign he’s targeted a group of people who feel like they need a voice. Some people agree more with his ideas on taxes, foreign policy, and health insurance. That’s okay. But you cannot deny the fact that he has made blatantly racist comments against Hispanics, and Muslims, and just about every other minority in the United States. Not to mention the way he talks about women, the way he treats women, and the way he plans on controlling women in his presidency. Excusing Donald Trump for saying that he forced himself upon a woman, whether it is true or not, as “locker room talk” excuses misogyny, and rape, and sends the message that joking about sexual assault is okay. It is not. I am fearful for my future because Donald Trump and Mike Pence think they can control me, and my body, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that. I will not stand for a country that elects a man who is the embodiment of everything America should not stand for.

America was moving towards a brighter future before Donald Trump got the idea in his head that he wanted to be president. Just over a year ago the Supreme Court passed the decision that bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. President Obama was initiating an acceptance of trans and nonbinary people into legal documents, and laws were starting to be passed to allow trans men and women into the bathroom of their chosen gender, not the one assigned to them at birth. We were a nation headed toward more equality. Look at this election, and how close it was. Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote, after all. We were so very close to having the first-ever woman president. Do you know how much of an impact that would have had on gender equality in the rest of the world? Seeing a woman as Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful country in the world would have been a major proponent of girls’ rights in developing countries. But no. Instead, America chose Donald Trump, and I would rather not be associated with a country that chooses Donald Trump.

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Not only is Donald Trump bad for America, he is bad for the world. Already, before all election votes were in, world stocks dropped. The New York Times reported that stocks in Japan plunged, Dow futures were down 800 points, and the NASDAQ halted futures trading around midnight on November 9. While the market typically crashes during elections, these immediate and drastic results are similar to those after Brexit, when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union – another close election people thought would go another way. The rest of the world fears the instability that Donald Trump’s presidency will bring – except Vladimir Putin, of course. I will not stand for a country whose reckless decisions have caused major conflicts in other parts of the world.

I see no unity in America, therefore I will not stand for the pledge of allegiance. Its purpose is to show patriotism, a major group of people bound together under a united front of freedom. I do not feel united. In seventh grade, I read a book about Cambodian immigrants called Children of the River by Linda Crew. I distinctly remember a section of the book where this girl was at a football game, and she was criticizing the way these teenage boys were making fun of the national anthem. For her family, the national anthem was a great symbol of America, so much so that it brought her father to tears. The United States gave them solitude from a country in a civil war, where they would have been subjected to genocide or displacement. Our country gave these people a chance, and for that they loved it. I am ashamed to be a part of a country that now makes immigrants fear for their lives because others will not think twice about attacking them for their religion, or trying to force them out of a place that is their home too.

I, a young woman, will not stand for the pledge of allegiance because half the population of this country does not stand for me. Under Donald Trump, I will not stand for the pledge of allegiance because Donald Trump should not stand for America.

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