Teacher Assaults Student For Not Standing During Pledge

[gaymer77]

Sorry I couldn't find the link to the other article I first read this on but I found this one from Huffington Post that details the events as well.

A school in eastern Michigan has placed a teacher on leave and launched an investigation after she allegedly “snatched” an 11-year-old student who sat during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Stone Chaney, a sixth grade student at East Middle School in Farmington Hills, Michigan, told WDIV Local 4 that he didn’t stand up during the Pledge of Allegiance because “I don’t pledge to a flag. I pledge to God and family.”

The alleged confrontation took place on Sept. 7 during Stone’s first week at school. He said his homeroom teacher forced him to get up after he refused to stand for the pledge.

“The teacher consultant comes up behind me and snatches me out of my chair violently,” Stone, who is black, told WDIV. “I was so confused. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Stone has not stood up to salute the American flag ― instead choosing to honor God and his family ― while at school without incident for several years, according to the Washington Post.

Brian Chaney, Stone’s father, says he is calling attention to the incident because it violates his son’s civil rights.

“We want people to know people have rights,” Chaney told the Detroit Free Press. “You can’t put your hands on children, or adults, for this reason.”

He later added, “How many kids would be such critical thinkers and leaders to be able to walk to their own beat and blaze their own path?”

Testifying in front of a local Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Chaney described his son as a student leader who is involved in many extracurricular activities and likely ranks at the top of his class.

He told the board that his son was also involved in another incident with faculty during the Pledge of Allegiance, a day after the first one occurred. In the second instance, Chaney said a substitute teacher “berated” Stone for not standing during the pledge and asked the student if he was “just lazy.”

Chaney works as a social worker in the nearby Pontiac School District, according to the Free Press. He told the board on Tuesday that his family was “very disappointed that when we dropped our son off into the hands of East Middle School, we thought it would be nurturing hands... where he could feel safe.”
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“What was done to my son was wrong,” Chaney continued. “For him to be violently snatched out of his chair by a lady ... is a violation of his civil rights. It’s a violation.”

Stone’s decision to stay seated during the symbolic pledge mirrors the protests of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Last summer, the football star refused to stand for the national anthem before a pre-season game in protest of police brutality and the oppression of minorities across the country, sparking a nationwide debate over what the anthem and similar patriotic traditions represent.

In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to force people to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. But not everyone agrees on what the pledge represents.

Stephen Stevens, a U.S. Marine veteran, told WIDV, “I would love to be able to talk to them and get their side and explain my side so maybe we could come to an understanding. Because I get they have that right, but I don’t believe they understand what that right really entails.”

Chaney had told the board on Tuesday that, over the last 20 years, he has made the personal decision to not stand up during the pledge ― and he criticized Stone’s teachers for forcing their opinions on his son.

“When you put your hands on kids and force your own way of thinking, that’s not right,” told the Washington Post.

Farmington Public Schools superintendent George Heitsch said in a statement that the allegedly involved teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the matter.

While Heitsch said that the district “fully supports the right of each student to participate or not in the daily pledge,” the statement didn’t say how the teacher would be disciplined, if at all.

At any rate, Stone just wants his teachers to respect students’ civil rights.

“Right now, what we’re trying to do is see change, so this will never happen again,” he told the Free Press. “So all the teachers are taught to do the right thing.”

The tl;dr version: Boy has been sitting for the Pledge of Allegiance since 2nd grade, boy states he doesn't do it because his religion is to worship God & family not idol things, teacher in 7th grade physically gets him out of his chair for not standing.

I don't know about you guys but if this would have happened to MY KID at school, my family would be getting money for my bail because I'd be down there slapping a bitch into next week for laying 1 finger on my kid.

[sarahtasher]

Already posted, got bans.

It goes this way : people pretending that the pledge is sacred and if you don't do it, you are SJW whiner, bla-bla-bla.

[kail]

Pretty sure a thread on this exists.

[Endus]

We had an earlier thread on this, but it was phrased in such a baity manner that it was clearly meant to derail and provoke anger at the OP, and it got locked. This isn't, so it should be fine to stay open, as long as folks play as "nice" as we usually do. Just making the note up-front so nobody thinks it's a duplicate thread.

Mod voice off, here's my take;

This probably isn't bad enough for criminal charges, since it appears they just yanked the kid out of their seat, but the guy absolutely needs to get fired and never work with kids, in any capacity, ever again. If they've got a teaching license, revoke that permanently.

If it had just been berating/administratively punishing the kid for not standing, that would be bad enough (and still an infringement of the kid's civil rights), but the use of physical force means this should be cut-and-dry and handled with the strongest and clearest administrative penalties, not three-strikes bullshit, this is a one-and-done trump card of an offense.

If he'd smacked the kid or caused him any degree of harm, I'd be saying to charge him with assault and battery and give him some prison time.

[Basileus]

Only thing I really care about is the fact that they felt the need to point out the race of the kid like it had something to do with this.

[Mormolyce]

Does any other Western country have a comparable ceremony that's regularly performed in schools?

Closest analogy I can think of is singing along to the national anthem during school ceremonies.

It goes this way : people pretending that the pledge is sacred and if you don't do it, you are SJW whiner, bla-bla-bla.

Which is especially funny because in this case the kid was objecting because he's religious and it's idolatry. LOL.

[sarahtasher]

Which is especially funny because in this case the kid was objecting because he's religious and it's idolatry. LOL.

Oddly, some people struggle immensely to accept cases of freedom of speech (such as flag burning) that are EXPLICITLY and REPEATEDLY ruled as constitutional, while they pretend to be about freedom of speech.

And again, the ''God'' part in the pledge, which is what irks most people, is a pretty recent thing.

[Dreknar20]

while they pretend to be about freedom of speech.

some people just deem some speech 'more free' than others

[kasuke06]

Okay, so it's not okay to make someone follow the rules and stand for the pledge, but it is okay to just punch nazis(or anyone as long as you kinda maybe think they look nazi-adjacent)

Just trying to figure out the level of doublethink necessary for the mental gymnastics I'm liable to view in this topic.

[Post]

I've learned you're justified to assault people for their beliefs, so this is fine I guess.

[Chromeshellking]

Sorry I couldn't find the link to the other article I first read this on but I found this one from Huffington Post that details the events as well.



The tl;dr version: Boy has been sitting for the Pledge of Allegiance since 2nd grade, boy states he doesn't do it because his religion is to worship God & family not idol things, teacher in 7th grade physically gets him out of his chair for not standing.

I don't know about you guys but if this would have happened to MY KID at school, my family would be getting money for my bail because I'd be down there slapping a bitch into next week for laying 1 finger on my kid.

that is about how I felt about it.

[Crissi]

Okay, so it's not okay to make someone follow the rules and stand for the pledge, but it is okay to just punch nazis(or anyone as long as you kinda maybe think they look nazi-adjacent)

Just trying to figure out the level of doublethink necessary for the mental gymnastics I'm liable to view in this topic.

Reciting and standing are not rules. Just arbitrary courtesy. I never got in trouble for refusing cause I thought it was dumb, and in HS they dropped it all together (private school though)

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Sounds like a teacher got her feelings hurt by a kid though. Lulz

[Endus]

Okay, so it's not okay to make someone follow the rules and stand for the pledge, but it is okay to just punch nazis(or anyone as long as you kinda maybe think they look nazi-adjacent)

Just trying to figure out the level of doublethink necessary for the mental gymnastics I'm liable to view in this topic.

You're equating a kid being assaulted by a teacher for choosing not to stand during the Pledge, with one adult punching another adult for expressing Nazi ideology.

Don't tell me you don't see the glaring and obvious differences in context between those two. It's a false equivalence, and you should know better.

[Soeroah]

The pledge of allegiance sounds like such a bad thing, to me, a non-American. It sounds like you're celebrating a land of freedom, but are basically forced to recite a pre-written promise to a nebulous concept that honestly just sounds like indoctrination. Might not be required, but it's the sort of thing where if you don't do it, people assume you're a traitor or whatever.

Point is this should never have happened, and anyone who gets so riled up at someone's choice not to participate honestly needs to at least attend a course. I thought Americans say they fought wars to defend their right to choose to do or not do things like this, but maybe that's just voting.

[Aitch]

“The teacher consultant comes up behind me and snatches me out of my chair violently,” Stone, who is black, told WDIV. “I was so confused. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Oh, well I'm glad we cleared that up. Journalism...

[Polarthief]

Fucked up of the teacher to do that. You don't fuck with rights.

Also, can I just bring this up:

Stone, who is black

Literally everything up to that point was totally fine but why in the holy mother of fuck did they choose to make it a racial thing?

Oh, well I'm glad we cleared that up. Journalism...

Literally no place for it, right? There was absolutely no need to say what the kid's ethnicity was.

[I Push Buttons]

Oh, well I'm glad we cleared that up. Journalism...

I mean its Huffington Post... Gotta push that white people oppressing black people narrative at all costs.

[Soeroah]

Fucked up of the teacher to do that. You don't fuck with rights.

Also, can I just bring this up:

Literally everything up to that point was totally fine but why in the holy mother of fuck did they choose to make it a racial thing?



Literally no place for it, right? There was absolutely no need to say what the kid's ethnicity was.

But how will I know how much sympathy the victim is deserving of?

Yeah, that was a pretty stupid inclusion for the article. I don't know if it was to garner sympathy "from the SJW crowd" or to "rally the right" (which are generalised stereotypes, hence the quotes) but I can't imagine a situation where it's helpful in any way.

[Mittens]

Well, people always insist we should imitate Asia.

[kasuke06]

Reciting and standing are not rules. Just arbitrary courtesy. I never got in trouble for refusing cause I thought it was dumb, and in HS they dropped it all together (private school though)

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Sounds like a teacher got her feelings hurt by a kid though. Lulz

Huh. I dunno, Maybe I was raised different, but I respect the country I was born and raised in.