Editor:

When I was in junior high school, a few rebellious friends and I refused to stand when the rest of the class was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. We had no political agenda and we were not refusing to stand because of racism and oppression, we just didn't stand because we did not like being told what to do. Plus, we were showoffs.

This past week, Denver Nuggets basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was suspended by the NBA for refusing to stand for the singing of the National Anthem. According to the press this was a ritual Abdul-Rauf has done for the past two years. When I first heard of the suspension, I was under the impression that it was for religious reasons. After all, I am a believer of Islam and I know that Muslims only pledge allegiance to God. I was for Abdul-Rauf's position because of my own beliefs. As the story unfolded, I learned religion was not the only cause for his defiance.

Abdul-Rauf said that the flag symbolized "tyranny and oppression" to not only blacks, but whites, Native Americans, etc. That is where I disagree. The flag that represents this great country of ours is not a symbol of anything other than what it represents, the United States of America. The flag is innocent of all charges against it. I understand that people get upset over the grave injustices that have plagued this country for hundreds of years, after all, my people suffered as much as anyone, but the flag is just a piece of cloth. A piece of cloth that has no eyes, no ears, no sense of judgment. When we are singing the National Anthem, we are not paying tribute to the hundreds of years of oppression and bigotry, but we are paying tribute to a symbol that stands for freedom and justice for everyone. If the flag did have ears and eyes and could render judgment, I'm sure it would not allow the injustice that Abdul-Rauf and all of us despises to flourish. It's not the flag or the thousands of square miles that we call the United States that are to blame, it's the few idiots that happen to share the warmth and comfort of the freedom the flag gives us. They are the guilty ones.

So next time someone wants to burn a flag or defame the country, think first. How can an innocent symbol be responsible for the actions of idiots? If symbols were to blame, I guess the cross would be shunned by Christians because the Ku Klux Klan uses it as their symbol. Think.

Tony Pinkins
psychology junior