School district apologizes after student recites the pledge in Arabic

A New York high school student is receiving death threats after he let a classmate recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic to mark National Foreign Language Week.

At Pine Bush High School, student senate president Andrew Zink usually leads the pledge, but on Wednesday, a teacher asked if he would pass his duties to another student who speaks Arabic. After it was done, "the anti-Muslim sentiment started to build," Zink told the Los Angeles Times. "The poor girl who read it, she's so sweet, and when she finished reading it people called her a terrorist. They told her to go back to the Middle East. They mercilessly degraded her and I felt awful for her."

The Pine Bush Central School District said it received complaints from Jewish parents and people who lost relatives in the Afghanistan war, and apologized for the recitation. The school had also planned to let students say the pledge in French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish to "promote the fact that those who speak a language other than English still pledge to salute this great country," but it will now just be recited in English. Zink is receiving abusive messages online, is no longer allowed to lead the pledge, and could be impeached, but he stands by his decision. "There are consequences, but to be honest, I would do it again because I believe what I did was right," he said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up