VIDEO: 'From Residents of Orange County NY: the Pledge of Allegiance in 10 Languages'

A YouTube video of the Pledge of Allegiance in 10 languages is drawing the same kind of opinion that greeted Wednesday’s recitation of the Pledge in Arabic at Pine Bush High School: passionate.

The video, published March 19, is titled “From residents of Orange County, New York: The Pledge of Allegiance recited in English, Farsi, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Arabic, Punjabi, Korean, and Russian.”

One commenter wrote “THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO! It’s beautiful, just because the words are not spoken in english does not take away the meaning or power of what the pledge of allegiance stands for.”

But another wrote “It is wrong to recite our pledge in any language other than English. Welcome to America. Speak English or get out.“

Video publisher John Kidd sent the video to the media, saying in an email, “This video was filmed in response to the uproar of the Pledge of Allegiance recited in Arabic.”

He did not respond to a request from Patch for further comment.

The Times Herald-Record of Middletown has been covering the controversy, which started when the senior class president, who makes the morning announcements, had someone recite the pledge in Arabic for national Foreign Language Week.

Students and staff immediately reacted, many with anger. Apologies from school and district officials then angered those who thought the reading was appropriate. The ripple effect spread out into the community and then went viral late this week.

The Pine Bush school district has been having its troubles with multi-culturalism.

District officials are involved in a lawsuit brought by families of Jewish students alleging years of anti-Semitic bullying. A federal court ruled the suit may go forward. A state police investigation did not result in any criminal charges.

“...many of the alleged acts were committed by children too young to be charged with those acts as criminals ... and that others were precluded by the statute of limitations,” the Orange County District Attorney said in a statement in September. “Moreover, the investigation revealed no evidence that any school official had engaged in any criminal conduct.”

Read more from the Times Herald-Record:

• Arabic version of Pledge of Allegiance at Pine Bush High School ignites furor
• Arabic reading of ‘Pledge’ in Pine Bush goes global
• School stifles senior class president
• Veterans voice anger over ‘Pledge’ decision