Marissa Barnwell failed to show sufficient deference to the Pledge of Allegiance. And for that, she was punished.
She was walking quietly down the hall at River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina, where she is in ninth grade. The daily over-the-intercom recitation of the pledge began but Barnwell kept walking.
A teacher called to her several times, she says, but when she didn't stop to recite the pledge — or at least acknowledge it by standing still — the teacher grabbed her, pushed her up against the wall and eventually sent her to the principal. The principal asked her, "Don't you love your country?"
