A Texas high school student filed a lawsuit against her school district after and her principal she was suspended for sitting during the pledge of allegiance. Seventeen-year-old India Landry says, “I don’t think that the flag is what it says it is for, for liberty, and for justice and all that. It’s not obviously what’s going on in America today.”
Landry says she has not stood for the pledge for years, but last week she was kicked out for it.
The Cy-Fair ISD senior says they were being very condescending and said, “This isn’t the NFL, you won’t do this here.”
The head principal saw Landry sitting during the pledge while she was in the administration’s offices. Principal Martha Strother told her to stand, and when she continued to sit, Strother allegedly told her, “Well, you’re kicked outta here.”
According to a statement from her lawyer Randall L. Kallinen Saturday, the African American female at Windfern High School sat through the Pledge of Allegiance at least 200 times since April 2016. Kallinen says “Principal Strother had recently been whipped into a frenzy by African-American National Football League players kneeling for the Anthem.”
Kallinen says the issue of a student having a right to not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance has been settled for years. He also urges that “Instantaneous school expulsion violates the Constitution.”
“Students cannot be instantly expelled except for being a danger,” said the Houston-based civil rights lawyer. “The only danger appeared to be that her sitting whipped Principal Strother into a political frenzy.”
Landry told the Houston CBS affiliate that she does not know when she will be able to graduate.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with additional information.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on GAB @lanashadwick and Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
Kizzy Landry v. Cypress Fairbanks ISD