They didn't go after the Jehovah's Witnesses or Amish - but ----

[hunter]

31. My childhood as a Jehovah's Witness wasn't smooth sailing.

I was a weird autistic spectrum kid anyways so ignoring the flag salute did nothing to improve my social standing. I was usually reading or drawing spaceships during the flag salute. Hear no evil.

One of my grade school teachers made an example of me in social studies as an example of religious freedom in the U.S.A.. That was almost as bad as the red white and blue asshole teachers who thought my mom was crazy and I was a little shit and treated us as such.

My faith and my power was that I'd rather not irritate God. Certain people, including teachers, school administrators, and classmates were going to hate me whatever, whether I saluted the flag or not.

My mom couldn't stay out of politics so she was booted out of the Jehovah's Witnesses and then we were Quakers. Quakers similarly are not keen on oaths to the State.

I later taught in a school where the flag salute was problematic because maybe 40% of the kids had parents who were not U.S. citizens. Many teachers were not doing the Pledge of Allegiance in their home rooms. Holy Roller white U.S.A. Christian parents were upset about that, so the principal decided to do the Pledge over the PA system in the morning, holy roller white U.S.A. Christian kids presiding.

Our school was pretty battered and worn and unmaintained since all the white people moved away in the 'sixties so the intercom/public address system didn't work in many classrooms, mine included. I didn't complain. In that twenty minutes I took roll, we read the school bulletins, and discussed news of the world.