Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) adjunct professor Celeste Barber spoke out against her school’s trustee board after they stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance during meetings over racial concerns.
The head of the SBCC’s trustee board claimed there was a history of white nationalism behind the pledge and emailed Barber to tell her it was racist. (RELATED: California Community College Board Of Trustees President Says Goodbye To Pledge Of Allegiance Over ‘White Nationalism’ History)
“In the email that he sent to me the week before he stated that it was because it had roots in white nationalism, racism, nativism — and I reject that,” she said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends.”
“There is nothing white nationalist about the pledge of allegiance. There’s no reference to race, to gender to ethnicity. It’s all inclusive. That’s why school children around the country, thousands of them recite it every day because it includes everybody who lives in this country.”
WATCH:
Barber decided to use her public comment time to recite the pledge in defiance of the new rules and faced verbal backlash from several people in the audience. She also said her father’s service in World War II inspired her to speak up.
“They were actually there for another issue. But I just happened to come into it and it incited them for some reason,” she said. “This is the pledge of allegiance. I’m the daughter of a World War II combat veteran. And my dad and so many other Americans — men and women have gone into harm’s way for the ideals that are expressed in the pledge of allegiance. I have a right to stand up and speak for those ideals on behalf of people who have sacrificed everything for this country.”
Following the meeting the pledge was immediately reinstated and Barber says she plans on attending the next meeting on Valentines day so she can be there to recite it.
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