Arizona Councilman Refuses To Stand For Pledge
MESA, AZ ~ One resident suggested that City Councilman Tom Rawles should be buried in the cement his construction company uses. Others have suggested more dramatic retaliation after he started refusing to recite or stand for the Pledge of Allegiance during council meetings to protest the war in Iraq. He has sat out for the pledge twice so far.
His stand has angered fellow council members and constituents alike in this conservative Phoenix suburb of about 400,000, with several people demanding the first-term councilman be thrown out of office. Police briefly provided him with protection before deciding the threats were no reason for alarm.
"You have disrespected our country and the symbol of it and the men and women who fought for it," resident Mike Thelan told Rawles through tears at a council meeting on Monday. "You have acted like a spoiled little child that has not received what he wants from his parents."
Rawles, a 57-year-old lawyer who long ago decided not to run for re-election when his term is up in June 2008, said he will continue his protest "until the troops come home." He said he doesn't mind that his stand is angering some people. "That's what political speech is supposed to do. It's supposed to infuriate and irritate and challenge and make people think," Rawles said. "They apparently would prefer me just to walk lockstep and mouth ritualistic words to a mandatory ceremony, and that's not my idea of freedom."
In similar protests over the years, two black American sprinters at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics bowed their heads and raised their gloved fists in a black-power salute during the national anthem. In 1996, NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the anthem because of what he said was the United States' history of tyranny.
His stand has angered fellow council members and constituents alike in this conservative Phoenix suburb of about 400,000, with several people demanding the first-term councilman be thrown out of office. Police briefly provided him with protection before deciding the threats were no reason for alarm.
"You have disrespected our country and the symbol of it and the men and women who fought for it," resident Mike Thelan told Rawles through tears at a council meeting on Monday. "You have acted like a spoiled little child that has not received what he wants from his parents."
Rawles, a 57-year-old lawyer who long ago decided not to run for re-election when his term is up in June 2008, said he will continue his protest "until the troops come home." He said he doesn't mind that his stand is angering some people. "That's what political speech is supposed to do. It's supposed to infuriate and irritate and challenge and make people think," Rawles said. "They apparently would prefer me just to walk lockstep and mouth ritualistic words to a mandatory ceremony, and that's not my idea of freedom."
In similar protests over the years, two black American sprinters at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics bowed their heads and raised their gloved fists in a black-power salute during the national anthem. In 1996, NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the anthem because of what he said was the United States' history of tyranny.
Labels: Iraq, Social Mores, War Protest
posted by Mike McCarville @ 2:49 PM
<< Home