Eight City Council members refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Wednesday, joining a protest started by City Councilman Jumaane Williams earlier this month.
Williams has received racist hate mail calling him a “f—– plantation monkey” and telling him to “drop dead” since saying he would not recite the pledge in protest of injustices including killings by police and gun violence.
Seven other pols remained seated as the rest of the body pledged to the flag at Wednesday’s Council meeting.
“I’ll remain seated in an act of solidarity and patriotism,” said Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn). “I’m sorry if it’s in any way offensive to my constituents, but surely it is far less offensive than receiving vile hate mail or being worried about whether your teenage son is going to come home at night.”
Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Brooklyn) said he’d sit out the pledge until the country begins a “real conversation regarding race and injustice.”
“I know we can do better. I expect better from this country,” he said.
Councilmembers Carlos Menchaca, Rafael Espinal, and Inez Barron of Brooklyn, Andy King of the Bronx, and Ruben Wills of Queens also participated in the protest.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said she respected her colleagues’ actions. “They have the right to do so,” she said. “It’s been pretty abhorrent to hear some of the backlash that Jumaane has been getting.”
Mark-Viverito herself used to decline to recite the pledge, a practice she stopped while running for speaker. “People that don’t have short memories will recollect when I was running for speaker, how many times I was challenged about my patriotism based on what I was doing or not doing,” she said. “I’m very familiar with this argument.”
Mayor de Blasio said he believes that “the Pledge of Allegiance and saluting the flag during the national anthem are about an affirmation of our democracy that is still evolving, that needs to get better, that needs to be truer to who we are and what we’re supposed to be.”
“I also respect others who have made a different choice, and that is an American value that people get to make that choice,” he added.
With Jennifer Fermino
