A lifelong Orange County resident has produced a video that features other county residents reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in 10 languages. The video is a direct response to the uproar over an Arabic reading of the Pledge of Allegiance at Pine Bush High School earlier this week.
The Pledge reading in Arabic Wednesday was intended to celebrate National Foreign Language Week. Instead, the reading has polarized a community. Montgomery resident John Kidd is responding with a video he shot Thursday that is on YouTube, with 10 Orange County residents and business owners reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in 10 languages.
Kidd, Town of Montgomery Chamber of Commerce president and publisher of Pine Bush Quarterly magazine, says there should be room for diversity.
“This is supposed to be the United States of America, but sometimes I feel like we’re anything but united,” says Kidd.
Meanwhile, many area veterans have voiced opposition to the Arabic Pledge reading.