<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">Forwarded From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Fierman, William</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wfierman@indiana.edu">wfierman@indiana.edu</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 11:29 PM<br><br> US Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic leads school to apologise<br><br><br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">US Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic leads school to apologise<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><img src="cid:image001.jpg@01D06365.7FCC3340" alt="Students pledging allegiance to the US flag" height="351" width="624"></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The
31-word pledge is recited at many US schools each morning <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A school in New York state has apologised after receiving complaints because a student recited the US Pledge
of Allegiance in Arabic.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The school's foreign language department arranged for the pledge to be read in a different language each day
for a week.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Complaints were received from people who lost family in Afghanistan and from Jewish parents, an official said.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Neither the US nor New York state has an official language.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The school district superintendant, Joan Carbone, told the
<a href="http://www.recordonline.com/article/20150318/NEWS/150319327" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Times Herald-Record newspaper</span></a> that the Arabic pledge had "divided the school in half" and that she had received numerous complaints.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A statement from the district apologised "to any students, staff or community members who found this activity
disrespectful" and said the reading was intended to "promote the fact that those who speak a language other than English still pledge to salute this great country".<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An Arabic-speaking student read the pledge during morning announcements at Pine Bush High School in Pine Bush,
New York, on Wednesday.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials said the school's foreign language department organised for different pledge translations to be read
in celebration of National Foreign Language Week.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">English only from now on
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Many students reportedly shouted their disapproval during the recitation, and later complained on social media.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Later in the afternoon, the school's principal made a school-wide announcement to explain why the pledge was
read in Arabic and to apologise for those who took offence.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ms Carbone said the pledge would only be read in English in the future.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The school's student leader, Andrew Zink, who is in charge of the morning announcements, told the local newspapers
that he knew the reading would attract controversy.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He permitted it to go forward, because he believed it was "the right thing to do".<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"All Americans who value our nation's history of religious and ethnic diversity should be concerned" by the
reaction and subsequent apology, said Sadyia Khalique, a spokeswoman for the New York chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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