I Pledge Alligance To The Flag Of The United States Of America
Commissioner blasts Racial & Social Justice Commission for not reciting pledge of allegiance
London Steverson, a retired Social Security Judge and Coast Guard Law Specialist, sits on the Prince William County Racial and Social Justice Commission.
A retired Administrative Law Judge who now sits on a newly formed Prince William County commission was outraged when, at the most recent meeting, commissioners didn’t start with a pledge of allegiance to the flag.
The pledge is commonplace at the county’s other meetings, including at the Board of County Supervisors.
So, he recited it himself at the end of the March 18 meeting of the Racial and Social Justice Commission, which took place at the county’s government center in Woodbridge.
“I am insulted we didn’t start this meeting with the pledge of allegiance or opening prayer. Not even the Congress or the House of Representatives is so un-American,” the Coast Guard veteran said, as he chastised fellow Commissioner Shantell Rock of Woodbridge, who serves as its chairwoman.
Instead of the pledge of allegiance, Rock asked commissioners to recite an equity communication pledge which asks commissioners to avoid using statements like “I think, I feel, I believe,” and promise not to challenge others when talking about the issue of race, and not to include their personal perspectives. “You are here to listen and serve the discussion, not to join it,” states the pledge.
It was the first time commissioners were presented with the equity pledge. Not one recited it, while another commissioner, Mac Haddow, of Gainesville, objected.
“This is my time. You can choose to recite it or not to recite it,” Rock replied to Haddow’s opposition.
Meanwhile, Steverson recalled his past as a young Black man growing up in the segregated South in the Jim Crow era.
“I know racism. It’s not just something I learned about in a liberal arts discussion group,” said the retired judge. “I’m an affirmative action baby. I was able to go from the cotton fields to the courtroom in 20 years,” said Steverson.
Commissioners spent most of the meeting trying to get data on accounts of reported racism from county officials, including the police chief. There were few to report. However, commissioners pressed on, saying they would seek equity in the community.
“I’ve battled racism. I’ve battled cancel culture. I don’t believe in guaranteeing equal outcomes [equity]. I believe in ensuring equal opportunity,” said Steverson.
Steverson, a published author, retired from the Social Security Administration in 2009, where he worked as an appeals judge. He worked as a Law Specialist in the U.S. Coast Guard–a position similar to that of a JAG lawyer in the Navy, from 1968 to 1988.
The commission is scheduled for a work session today, March 22, at 7 p.m. at the McCoart Building at the county government center in Woodbridge.
Its next full meeting is scheduled for April 15.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors created the Racial and Social Justice Commission in October 2020 to serve as another layer of governmental oversight, on top of the county’s Equal Rights Commission that has been in place since 1992.
The Racial and Social Justice Commission is tasked with filing a report with the Board of County Supervisors in December to include a snapshot of actual or perceived racism in the county.
Labels: President Kennedy's Cadets.
posted by ichbinalj at 12:46 AM
13 Comments:
Avatar Sharon Harvey says:
March 22, 2021 at 7:38 pm
Thank you, Judge Steverson, for keeping it real. Remembering our country is more than local government trying to respond to the latest squeaky wheel. We have a duly sworn entity already in PWC government in the Human Rights Commission who are actually working for ALL the citizens of this county, ALL of us have a stake in how this county works together without artifice or favoritism. One Nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for ALL. Thank you, Sir.
Avatar Susy’s mom says:
March 22, 2021 at 7:55 pm
Thank you Judge for your Common Sense. A quality that is sorely lacking in this country and increasingly in this county.
Avatar TG says:
March 23, 2021 at 8:58 am
Hurrah for Judge Steverson!!! To those who oppose allegiance to our country: if you don’t like America, go live somewhere else. The US will be better for it.
Avatar Louise Strauss says:
March 23, 2021 at 12:57 pm
I would like someone to define racial and social justice. It is impossible to create racial justice because there are numerous races and none are created equal at all times which I assume means justice. The same can be said for social justice. Every person or group has their own concept of social justice and no one can meet each of these expectations.
People are individuals and no two are alike and each has different needs and expectations. Time would be better spent improving the general welfare such as more rigorous education standards, enforcement of quality of life standards and family stability.
Avatar Dr Fatsides says:
March 23, 2021 at 1:42 pm
Mr. Steverson, you are living proof that real success counts far more than political narratives. Many organizations with the mission statement of ensuring “racial equality” seem to have a blind spot for people who have achieved success. These organizations only tend to promote those individuals who serve as a mouthpiece for their organization – for example they’ll elevate someone who sell t-shirts with angry slogans over the real accomplishments of the only current black Supreme Court Justice. Thank you for cutting through the hype, pointing out the flawed logic and emotional diatribes and keeping things real. That common sense and analytical thinking will ensure that the Commission will be a force for good and not a blatant power grab by political operatives who do not have the county residents’ best interests in mind.
Avatar justsayin says:
March 22, 2021 at 6:57 pm
Well, at least Mr. Steverson has some decency and common sense.
Avatar MLMcaskill says:
March 23, 2021 at 12:22 pm
Thank you Judge Steverson. We need more people like you who have common sense and the dignity and bravery to speak out.
Avatar Qnation says:
March 23, 2021 at 12:38 pm
I recite the pledge 4 times a day and once in my sleep. It makes me superior to all others. I also painted my truck red white and blue and have petitioned auto makers to require this as a base color for all makes. Make America greater!
Avatar London Steverson says:
March 23, 2021 at 1:09 pm
This is the best, most accurate, and well written news article I have read in years. It is fair and balanced. Uriah Kiser did his homework. He understands the minute differences between a Navy JAG and a Coast Guard Law Specialist. He did not distort or cast aspersions. If the Mainstream Media had Reporters like Uriah, I would not have cancelled my subscriptions to The NY Times, Washington Post, or other propaganda papers dedicated to furthering „The Narrative“. As they say “It looks like a Newspaper, but isn’t “.
Avatar Qnation says:
March 23, 2021 at 6:45 pm
Logic. What logic in any of this nonsense. The whole thing is devoid of any facts about the commission and what it did, does or plans to do. It says nothing of what even happened at the actual meeting.
It does focus on a public figures effort to highlight a non work related activity. The same individual who engaged in violations of the same government he is so sanctimoniously proselytizes.
To bio someone’s background and miss the acrimonious end of that persons highest official position seems pretty illogical. If not, pretty “predictable” that someone is “pushing an agenda”.
Did I miss it or was there something about “how” he was going to make the county better and approach he would take or even what he has done in the county.
From what it sounds like we all going to just recite the commissions own words back to itself and pray problems away. Real substantive work.
Reply
Avatar London Steverson says:
March 24, 2021 at 4:21 am
Hello Cancel Culture. Up to your Old Tricks? Unverified Accusations, Half Truths, Distortions, Invasions of Privacy, Illegal Searches and Seizures, Threats, Intimidation, inter alia, all to intimidate and punish someone who refused to endorse homosexual marriage, and other deviant behavior? You are like your Father. He was a Liar from the beginning. The techniques you employed in Downey,CA., you refined and used against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to no avail. The World has seen you for what you are. We are living in perilous Times. God bless The United States of America, One Nation Under God, with Liberty and Justice for all.
March 23, 2021 Liberal “Christian” groups are trying to get Archbishop Joseph Naumann, head of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ pro-life committee, fired for his denunciation of Joe Biden’s radical support for abortion.
Faith in Public Life and Faithful America -- two far-left, so-called religious groups backed by atheist mega-donor George Soros -- launched an online petition last week to unseat Naumann from his committee post. The petition had nearly 20,000 signatures, although Faithful America has been known to pad petitions with fake signatures.
Both Soros-backed, pro-abortion and pro-LGBT groups behind the effort to cancel Naumann have worked for years to destroy the careers of faithful Christian leaders.
Biden’s extreme, decades-long abortion advocacy, which has included notorious slandering of pro-life judges, is far from his only break with fundamental Catholic teaching.
As vice president, Biden officiated a homosexual “wedding” in 2016, after publicly endorsing same-sex “marriage” in 2012. The Church always has recognized homosexuality to be “intrinsically disordered” and emphatically states that homosexual activity “can never be approved.”
Biden has been an outspoken proponent of transgenderism as well, indicating on the 2020 campaign trail that gender-confused children as young as eight should receive mutilating “sex change” procedures.
The Biden White House has taken numerous scandalous and deadly pro-abortion and pro-LBGT actions since Inauguration Day, ending President Trump’s multi-billion-dollar abortion spending cuts and forcing taxpayers to cover transgender surgeries, among other things.
The Church, basing itself on the Word of God, teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” precisely because the Church loves people and wants them to follow God’s order for creation and for sexuality as part of that order.
The Church teaches that God created marriage between one man and one woman as the only moral context for sexual relations which are primarily for the sake of procreation and secondarily for the sake of the union of the couple.
The Apostle Paul in one of his letters warns the Corinthians that “homosexuals” along with others such as “idolaters” and “adulterers” will “not inherit the kingdom of God.” It is because of such teachings that the Church warns sinners of every kind to repent of their sins and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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