A key Latino leader, joining those who said teens were “harassing a Native American elder” at the Lincoln Memorial Friday, is demanding that the Pledge of Allegiance be rewritten to honor “indigenous and immigrant heritage," not the flag.

Even as reports about students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky “harassing” the native American were discounted, Cesar Vargas, co-director of the Dream Action Coalition, said it was one of the reasons the pledge should be changed.

“White teenagers harassing a native American elder or chanting ‘build the wall’ at Mexican immigrants are not isolated incidents. Incorporating ‘our indigenous and immigrant heritage’ is our pledge that we will proactively counter the danger that racism breeds,” he wrote in an editorial.

He made this proposal:



The upgraded version should read: "I pledge allegiance and love to our indigenous and immigrant heritage, rooted in the United States of America, to our civil rights for which we strive, one voice, one nation, for equality and justice for all."



The current pledge states, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Vargas, whose commentary appeared in the Hill, said the pledge has a history of racism.

“At worst, the pledge’s disturbing history excludes countless communities, including my own family. At best, reciting the pledge has become a perfunctory exercise of rote memorization,” he wrote. “Our pledge of allegiance should be rooted in optimism, not stem from the fear of a white native-born Protestant culture. It is time to upgrade our pledge so we can truly recite words that live up to a nation that takes pride in our immigrant heritage and equality of all Americans.”