Council Asked to Consider Dropping Pledge of Allegiance

El Cerrito City Councilman Mark Friedman is asking the council to consider removing the Pledge of Allegiance at council meetings.

The pledge is routinely recited at the beginning of each meeting, with council members and people in the audience standing and facing the flag.

A resolution on the Tuesday night council agenda would elminate the pledge. The council agenda says the item was added "at the request of Councilmember Friedman (to) consider a motion removing the ceremonial pledge of allegiance from all City Council meetings." The resolution is attached to this article.

Friedman, who previously served on the council from 1997 to 2004, was elected again in November as one of three candidates running unopposed for three open seats on the five-member council.

Asked the reasons for his proposal, Friedman told Patch by email:

"At our strategic planning session last Saturday, the consultant listed one of the limitations of El Cerrito as 'doing things because that's the way we've always done them.' " (The council held a study session of the city's emerging "Strategic Plan" on Jan. 26.)

"In that spirit I want to discuss whether to continue the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance so that we either consciously affirm that recitation or we decide to modify or discontinue the practice," Friedman said.

"I certainly love the United States and the people who live here and do not intend my raising of this issue to be seen as a reflection of any 'anti-patriotic' sentiment.  The Pledge, which was first written in 1892 and revised three times since with the last change coming in 1954 with the addition of 'under God,' may need to be updated to reflect how dramatically our nation and world has changed since 1892 and 1954.  Also Council members take an oath to uphold the Constitution when we are sworn in."

Attached to the resolution is a list showing whether the pledge is recited in a number of other cities, including 18 in Contra Contra Costa, 14 in Alameda County and and four others – San Francisco, San Rafael, Santa Cruz and Santa Monica.

Nearly all of them recite the pledge. According to the list, there are three exceptions: Alameda, where it's not said; Berkeley, which has one annual pledge; and Fremont, which salutes the flag.

The El Cerrito council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

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Do you support eliminating the Pledge of Allegiance at City Council meetings? We'd like to know your view in the comments.