“I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Recognize these words?

This is the original form of the pledge of allegiance written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. The pledge we know today was adapted in 1942 in by congress. Congress adopted the pledge to include “to the flag” and “under God” for Communist conerns.

The National Anthem’s first lyrics were written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key and in 1916 the former 31st president Herbert Hoover signed the National Anthem making it known as a national treasure.

Despite the words, tune and tempo changing over the past 200 years, it remains as a stalwart of patriotism and it gets linked to the flag, our country’s history and even to what it means to be an American.

This conflation is interesting as it’s important to not link all American icons, symbols, flags and legends to represent one another as that becomes complicated. Different parts of the country learn different versions of American history so it’s probably good to keep this all seperate until we can clairfy which means what.

Despite the Costitution and court cases clarifying aspects, Americans are still being harrassed for following through on their Constitutional rights.

In recent news a high school in Texas and a student, India Landry, was suspended for sitting during the pledge. Under the Supreme Court case of “West Virginia State Board of Education V. Barnette” in 1943 the court ruled the first amendment protects students from being forced to participate for the pledge. And if you haven’t been living under a rock you have probably heard of the protests of NFL players during the national anthem. Those

protests started in 2016 by former San Francisco quarterback by Colin Kaepernick for not standing during the anthem.

His protest was viewed as an oppression of people of color movement.  Although the current protests during the NFL had been protested in various ways for various causes.

All forms of  protests from students like India Landry and the NFL players like Colin Kaepernick have continued to make headlines all over. Weather you stand for the pledge, anthem or not, have you never thought about how the

pledge and possibly the

anthem have changed

over the years. The pledge was written 74 years ago and the anthem 86 years ago. Over the years they continued to hold and maintain the same values. Everyone interprets things differently and everyone has a right to use their platform as they see fit, from Vertren to NFL player.

The current 45th President of the United States Donald Trump has been vocal on how he would handle the protests. “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag…”

Despite his words being illegal, it heightens that no one interprets symbols the same. We can’t suspend or fire people for having different views and interpretations them us.

It’s critical we keep perspective on what we’re actually protesting and getting upset about. Is it disrespect for the flag or an uncomfortable reminder that we still, after all these years, are unequal?