Student's Pledge Of Allegiance Protest Lauded By Hillary Clinton

CATONSVILLE, MD — A student at Catonsville Middle School has gained national attention for kneeling during the Pledge of Allegiance. Sixth grader Mariana Taylor said she did not stand for the pledge because she was saddened by the state of the nation.

"I kneeled because of the sexism and racism and a lot of wrong things going on in the country," Taylor said, speaking before the Baltimore County Board of Education earlier this summer. "And kneeling is not a big disruption to the classroom."

"I have the right to kneel if I don't feel comfortable standing," she said.

The 11-year-old got a shout-out from former first lady and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Wednesday through Twitter. Commenting on a video of Taylor produced by news outlet Now This, Clinton said: "Keep up the good work Mariana!" and stated: "It takes courage to exercise your right to protest injustice, especially when you're 11!"

It takes courage to exercise your right to protest injustice, especially when you’re 11! Keep up the good work Mariana. https://t.co/vnGheuWyJ0
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 15, 2018

Taylor spoke out against the Baltimore County Public Schools policy that requires students to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Based on the Baltimore County Public Schools Rule 6307, students and teachers are required to "stand and face the flag and while standing give an approved salute and recite in unison the pledge of allegiance..."

There is one exception to the rule: "Any student or staff member who wishes to be excused from the flag salute shall be excused."

Instead of being excused, Taylor said that she was degraded for her choice by her homeroom teacher.

"She basically implied I was disrespecting the country, she brought up her family overseas, which to my current belief is, legally this is not in her rights as a teacher to speak to a student like this," Taylor said.

"It is in my rights that I'm allowed to kneel," she continued, citing the First Amendment and Tinker vs. Des Moines, a case that established students had the right to free speech as long as it did not interfere with school activities.

"Kneeling is not a big disruption in the classroom," said Taylor, who called for clarification of the policy so that no other student had to go through what she did. "...I feel that my confrontation was more disruptive than kneeling itself. We need this policy changed."

To provide more context, Taylor's mother testified before the school board that her daughter sat rather than stood for two weeks during the Pledge of Allegiance in February. When her teacher asked why, she said she did not want to talk about it. On the day that the girl knelt, her teacher allegedly told the student she needed to provide a reason.

Mariana Taylor burst into tears and was sent by another teacher to the guidance counselor. Due to her "emotional state," her parents were called for a meeting. The principal reportedly chalked up the matter to a misunderstanding, according to the girl's mother.

Jay Jimenez, legal associate with the ACLU of Maryland, went with the Taylor family to the July 10 Board of Education meeting.

"In February, Mariana Taylor silently and respectfully knelt adjacent to her desk when the Pledge of Allegiance was recited during her morning homeroom class," the ACLU of Maryland said in a statement afterward, with the video above. "She was confronted by her teacher, who told Mariana that the 'rules' require that she must stand for the Pledge."

Here is the policy from Baltimore County Public Schools:

RULE6307 Pledge BCPS

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Still picture from BCPS Board of Education meeting video from July 10, 2018.