Palestinian American student sues over Pledge of Allegiance protest
According to a lawsuit, a teacher told a student, “If you don’t like it, you should go back to your country”
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The ACLU of Michigan and the Arab American Civil Rights League filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools District and one of its teachers, alleging a Palestinian American student’s constitutional rights were violated when she was repeatedly humiliated for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a 14-year-old girl referred to as “D.K.” to protect her identity, claims that a teacher at West Middle School in Canton retaliated against the student for her silent protest of U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed. The eighth grader, who is of Palestinian descent, chose not to stand or recite the pledge on three occasions in January, citing her political beliefs.
Instead of respecting her decision, the teacher allegedly reprimanded the student in front of classmates, telling her that staying seated was disrespectful to U.S. military members and the American flag, according to the lawsuit. When D.K. later explained her reasons privately, the teacher reportedly told her: “Since you live in this country and enjoy its freedom, if you don’t like it, you should go back to your country.”
Attorneys say the actions violated D.K.’s First Amendment rights to free speech and political expression, and that the incidents caused lasting emotional harm.
“By attempting to force D.K. to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the school district violated her right to express her political views,” the ACLU said in a statement. “These actions have created an atmosphere of intimidation that has made D.K. and her classmates fearful of exercising their rights.”
According to the lawsuit, D.K.’s mental and physical health deteriorated following the incidents. She had nightmares, anxiety, social withdrawal, and a drop in academic performance. Once an excellent student, she now struggles with stress and isolation, the complaint states.
The Supreme Court has long affirmed that students have a constitutional right to abstain from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. In the landmark 1943 case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the court ruled that compelling students to salute the flag or say the pledge violates the First Amendment’s protections of free speech and freedom of conscience. Writing for the majority, Justice Robert Jackson declared, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.”
D.K.’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a ruling that the teacher and school district violated the Constitution.
“The right to freely speak — or not speak — is a form of protest that is fundamental to a well-functioning democracy — even when its exercise creates controversy or makes others uncomfortable,” Bonsitu Kitaba, interim legal director for the ACLU of Michigan, said. “As we see heightened attacks on our civil rights and liberties across the nation, the ACLU will remain vigilant in its fight to protect the rights of all people who wish to protest today and those whose rights will need protection tomorrow.”
Mark Fancher, staff attorney for the ACLU’s Racial Justice Project, called D.K.’s protest an act of “conviction and incredible courage,” especially amid heightened tensions and hostility over the war in Gaza.
“It is tragic that, while we always hope our schools will encourage young people to be independent, critical thinkers, D.K.’s teacher and the school district failed her not only by violating her First Amendment rights, but also by humiliating her for daring to exercise them,” Fancher said.
Nabih Ayad, founder of the Arab American Civil Rights League, said the teacher’s alleged remarks were especially egregious given the student’s Palestinian background and the trauma experienced by many Arab families in metro Detroit.
“It is disturbing that a teacher who is trusted to teach our children would succumb to such insensitivities to one of her students knowing that the student is of Arab Palestinian descent, and knowing of the many deaths overseas in Gaza of family members of Palestinians living in metro Detroit, that she would add insult to injury and call the student out for simply exercising her constitutional right not to partake in the Pledge of Allegiance as a sign of protest,” Ayad said. “That teacher most definitely should have known it is every student’s right in this country to not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance regardless of your personal views.”
The district declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
