Editor’s note: This article was updated to include comment from Gavilan College Trustee President Jeanie Wallace and to correct quotes that were incorrectly attributed to a speaker. Last updated May 15 at 12:23 p.m.
A half-dozen speakers at the May 9 Gavilan Board of Trustees used the time for public comment to ask the board to say the Pledge of Allegiance before their proceedings. The comments focused on similar themes, all urging the trustees to reinstate the pledge as an indication of their patriotism and respect for those in the armed services.
Rob Bernosky, chairman of the San Benito County Republican Party and past candidate for California Secretary of State, spoke first, citing the “many thousands [who] come across the border at the risk of their lives and that of their families to be in this great country of ours that would love to pledge their allegiance to this great land of opportunity.”
He went on to say, “When you pledge allegiance to our flag, the flag of the United States of America, you are restating your beliefs for all to see. If you can’t state your allegiance, then maybe you shouldn’t hold your legislative seat.”
Former Grand Jury foreman Roxy Montana mentioned her son’s service as a Purple Heart recipient and a member of “the most decorated regiment in the world,” the First Battalion of the Fifth Regiment of the United States Marine Corps.
“We are Americans, and the one thing that binds us together is a long history associated with our flag,” she said. “The very least we can do is acknowledge the fact that we are Americans regardless of gender, age or religion. I also notice the Gavilan school colors are navy blue, red and white, much like the colors of our flag.”
Local cattle rancher Jae Eade asked the board to rethink their decision, telling them not to “disrespect our country and by your example don’t teach the students to disrespect this country.”
Speaker Laura G. said reciting the pledge honors a flag that represents every religion and every gender.
”Unfortunately, there are some flags being pushed that don’t represent everyone,” she said. “Why are we adopting these policies that represent a small group of people, but we’re not representing here the amount of people who are proud and who love this country? Why are we supporting what is wrong and what is controversial over what is right?”
Former San Benito County supervisor and congressional candidate Peter Hernandez said that the trustees have the ultimate authority to be sure the pledge is honored and said that not doing so “dishonors many people that died in service of this country.”
There were no speakers in support of the decision not to say the pledge. As the matter was not relevant to any issues on the meeting agenda, the trustees were not allowed to comment on what was said, though the speakers were reminded that the public could put forward agenda items to be considered by the trustees at a future meeting.
Trustee President Jeanie Wallace there is no requirement in the Brown Act or Education Code to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at Community College Board meetings.
“The Pledge of Allegiance was removed to streamline our meetings and help them run more efficiently,” she said. “We’ve heard the community’s concerns and will place this matter on the next Board agenda so that the Board and the community can have a full and open discussion.”
Currently, 47 states require the pledge to be recited in classrooms, but it has been subjected to legal tests almost from the beginning of its use in schools. The matter is now considered settled law following the landmark 1943 case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, which was brought against the West Virginia State Board of Education board in 1943, in part for a provision in their educational code that said that refusal to salute the flag would be regarded as an “act of insubordination.”
The court held that no individual could be compelled to recite the pledge against their will, and in his majority opinion, Justice Robert Jackson, later the chief U.S. prosecutor at the 1945-6 Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, wrote, “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, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.”
Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas concurred, saying, “To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous, instead of a compulsory routine, is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds.”
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