PEC member refuses to recite pledge
‘Zero-tolerance’ policy cited as motivation for action
SANTA FE — “With liberty and justice for all.”
That’s the section of the nation’s Pledge of Allegiance that Public Education Commission member Carmie Lynn Toulouse felt she couldn’t say in good conscience, leading her to abstain from standing or saying the pledge at a PEC meeting Wednesday.
The reason, she told the Journal, was because she doesn’t believe everyone in the country is getting that liberty and justice, pointing to the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, which resulted in the separation of many children from their parents at the
border.
As the pledge kicked off the meeting, Toulouse stayed seated while others placed their hands over their hearts and said the familiar words.
“I didn’t want to be quiet (on the issue),” she said, adding she has a moral opposition to the zero-tolerance policy.
The elected member, who said she is wrapping up six years with the PEC, did participate in the salute to the New Mexico flag.
Toulouse said she’d been thinking about refusing to say the nation’s pledge since last month, and Wednesday’s meeting was the first time she was asked to do so in public since then.
The PEC member highlighted due to health reasons she couldn’t kneel or join protest marches against the Trump administration’s policy but wanted to object in an official capacity. The native New Mexican added that she has also signed online petitions against the separation of families.
Her silent protest mirrors a movement that spread across the National Football League in which players knelt during the national anthem as a nonverbal outcry against police brutality and racism.
Trump has openly blasted that movement.
Toulouse said she plans to keep abstaining until “we get it fixed,” meaning reuniting all the families that have been separated.
PEC Chair Patricia Gipson noted she supports member’s rights to abstain from the pledge.
Gipson, who shares Toulouse’s views on the zero-tolerance policy, said there’s nothing in PEC rule or policy that addresses Toulouse’s actions.
“That’s her right and it’s not my place to judge,” said Gipson.
Gipson and Toulouse are not alone in their stance. Both gubernatorial candidates Republican Steve Pearce and Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham have also opposed the zero-tolerance action.