Having school kids say the Pledge of Allegiance is offensive and intolerant to the hosts of NBC's Today which demonstrated how, to at least some in the media, not “offending” anyone in the U.S. who is not a citizen is more important than affirming loyalty. On October 19, NBC brought aboard Ninfa Segarra, the President of the New York City School Board, to defend its resolution to require that the Pledge of Allegiance be said each morning by school kids.
NBC's Ann Curry, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, went to the concerns of the ACLU which claims “that those young people who choose not to participate could be targeted for harassment.” After her colleague Matt Lauer worried about how some kids will be ostracized, Curry suggested that in addition to “renewing…a symbol of patriotism,” that “perhaps the school systems across the country really should be thinking about renewing a lesson about tolerance.”
That's right, the kids in schools in Southern Manhattan who saw the World Trade Center explode are the ones who need a lesson in tolerance.
Curry began the interview segment late in the October 19 show by letting Segarra outline why the schools had decided to reinstate the long-ago discontinued practice of having kids say the Pledge. Curry then pounced: “You know the Supreme Court decision way back in the '40s limits, basically prevents you from requiring, forcing students to say the Pledge. But you know the American Civil Liberties Union is very concerned about your resolution. They are saying basically that those young people who choose not to participate could be targeted for harassment. And The New York City school system has a lot of people, a lot of students and perhaps even teachers who are not American citizens, isn't that correct?”
If they don't believe in pledging allegiance to the nation giving them a free education, then why should anyone care about offending them? They are the ones acting offensively.
When Segarra noted that no one will be forced to take the Pledge, Lauer remained troubled: “But how would you do that? I mean if you are in a classroom of 30 students and five sit in a corner and don't stand and put their hands on their hearts as the Pledge is recited aren't the other kids going to ostracize them a little bit?”
Curry soon elaborated on Lauer's concern: “But part of the thinking behind some of the criticism is that perhaps maybe an addendum to a renewing of, of a symbol of patriotism that perhaps the school systems across the country really should be thinking about renewing a lesson about tolerance. Now is the school district, you are focusing on that in a new way?”
Segarra assured Curry that remains a concern.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
