Houston Professor declares that Pledging your Allegiance is a racist indoctrination tactic

Dr. Gerald Horne of the University of Houston isn’t a fan of American symbols, as evidenced by his interview with Sharmini Peries for The Real News Network. Despite this distaste, he holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African-American Studies.



Horne blasts the flag and Pledge of Allegiance, which came about because “it was thought that this artificially-constructed former slaveholders’ republic needed some kind of glue to help to bring disparate elements together.”



There’s also a tie-in to how harshly African Americans have been treated, with added emphasis:



And once again, the issue of national unity was at play, not least because a substantial percentage of the citizenry, particularly those of African descent, were subjected to routine atrocities, and it was felt that they would not necessarily be enthusiastic about shedding their blood and making the ultimate sacrifice for this so-called Republic. And so therefore you had the installation of the Pledge of Allegiance, particularly in schools, because it was thought that you had to get U.S. nationals at an early age in order to inculcate in them some sort of identification with the United States of America.



“The Star-Spangled Banner” is also problematic.



According to Horne, it speaks to “reprimanding, reproving, and denouncing black people for not standing alongside the star-spangled banner, but instead aligning, as the black population tended to do, with the real and imagined enemies of the United States of America.”