Hillary Clinton Tells 11-Year-Old Who Kneeled for Pledge To 'Keep Up the Good Work'
After an 11-year-old Maryland girl knelt during her school’s Pledge of Allegiance, Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to congratulate her on taking a stand against injustice.
According to The Washington Post, sixth grader Mariana Taylor decided to stay seated during the pledge in May to “show people that what’s going on is not okay.”
After NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling instead of sitting for the national anthem when he was told it was more respectful, Mariana also decided to take a knee instead of sitting during the pledge a few weeks later.
As the Post reported, on the third day of her kneeling, Mariana said her teacher reprimanded her for her actions and “basically implied that I was disrespecting the country.
“She brought up her family overseas, which to my current belief is that legally this is not in her rights as a teacher to speak to a student like this,” Mariana added.
Eventually, Mariana’s accusations called for the involvement of her parents, other parents in the school system, and the school board.
In a statement, Mariana’s school said she was not reprimanded by her teacher.
“We know of no [Baltimore County Public Schools] student who has been reprimanded or punished for nonparticipation in patriotic observances,” they said. “We fully support students’ rights and encourage student voice as articulated in board policy.”
Mariana ultimately testified before her school board on the issue.
“It is in my rights that I am allowed to kneel, and from Tinker v. Des Moines one of the cases where children took a stand in public school… students are allowed to take stands as long as it is not disruptive,” she said.
“I feel that my confrontation was more disruptive than kneeling itself,” she added.
After NowThis tweeted out a video report of Mariana testifying, Hillary Clinton retweeted the post with a message backing the young girl.
“It takes courage to exercise your right to protest injustice, especially when you’re 11! Keep up the good work Mariana,” Clinton wrote.
As Fox News reported, Clinton’s endorsement of Mariana’s kneeling for the Pledge of Allegiance yet again puts her at odds with President Donald Trump, who has on numerous occasions voiced his opposition to NFL players kneeling during the anthem.
This is not the first time Clinton has taken an opposing position to Trump on the issue of kneeling during patriotic observances.
“Actually, kneeling is a reverent position,” she said last year while promoting her book about the 2016 election.
“It was to demonstrate in a peaceful way against racism and injustice in our criminal system.”
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