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A Manatee County School District teacher was removed from his class after he yelled at a student for not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.
He was removed the same day as the incident and has been reassigned to a position where he no longer has contact with students, district spokesman Michael Barber wrote in an email. He said the district’s investigation is still ongoing.
The teacher is Robert Reiber, a 61–year-old art teacher at Manatee High School, according to a student who witnessed the incident.
A viral TikTok video with more than a million views showed part of the incident. In it, the teacher suggests that the student who looks to be Latino, to go back to where he came from. He asks the student if he is from Mexico or Guatemala.
“I was born here,” the student said.
“You were born here, and you won’t stand up for the flag?” the teacher responded.
Manatee County requires their students to stand for the pledge unless they have something in writing from a parent or guardian asking them to be excused from doing so. Barber said this doesn’t excuse Reiber’s behavior towards the student.
“The School District of Manatee County strongly condemns any language or behavior that degrades, humiliates or insults any individuals – most especially the young people, families, and community we have the privilege of serving,” Barber wrote.
This incident comes as no surprise, though. Young people, especially students, have been taught to not love this country. They are taught to hate it and that there is nothing good about our history or where we are today.
In 2014, The American Humanist Association launched a campaign called “Don’t Say The Pledge.” They said that the phrase “under God” is divisive in nature.
And, as we all know, many athletes have been kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of the United States.
It really ramped up in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.
CBS News reported:
After the Lakers pulled away to defeat the Clippers 103-101, LeBron James told reporters that he hopes the kneeling protests made Kaepernick proud. “I hope we made Kap proud, I hope we continue to make Kap proud. Every single day, I hope I make him proud on how I live my life, not only on the basketball floor but off the floor. I want to always speak out against things that I feel like are unjust,” James said.
In his post-game interview with TNT, James said the game of basketball has “always been bigger than just the ball and 10 guys on the floor” with referees. “It’s an opportunity to use this platform and be able to spread a lot of positive, a lot of love throughout the course of the whole world.”
