Will Phillips is a 10 year old boy who lives in Arkansas...and he's my new hero!

Will skipped 4th grade going right from 3rd to 5th, so nobody can deny this is a smart kid!  But not only is he smart, he also seems to have a better grasp on the concept of equality than many adults do in this country.

I also give lots of credit to his parents for instilling in this kid a good sense of right and wrong as well as fairness.

From the Arkansas Times:

Will's family has a number of gay friends. In recent years, Laura Phillips said they've been trying to be a straight ally to the gay community, going to the pride parades and standing up for the rights of their gay and lesbian neighbors. They've been especially dismayed by the effort to take away the rights of homosexuals – the right to marry, and the right to adopt.

Given that, Will immediately saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance.

“I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,” Will said. “I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.”

After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something. On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, a retired educator from the district, who knew Will's mother and grandmother. Though the substitute tried to make him stand up, he respectfully refused.

He did it again the next day, and the next day. Each day, the substitute got a little more cross with him.  On Thursday, it finally came to a head. The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge.

“She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up,” Will said. “I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes I said, ‘With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.”

After that he had to go to the principal's office and was given an assignment to look up information on the flag and what it represents!  So much for having the freedom to think for yourself.

I think it should be the principal and the teacher that should have to look up that information because Will seems to know more about what it represents than they do!

And of course there are kids in his school whose parents maybe didn't do such a great job with them:

Given that his protest is over the rights of gays and lesbians, the taunts have taken a predictable bent. “In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they've been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay,” he said. “It's always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad.”

So was that what the principal had in mind when he made Will research the flag and what it represents?  I'm still confused as to why the principal at this school felt like Will didn't know what it stood for!

And if any of these kids happened to go so far as to become violent towards Will at any point, would the school authorities act accordingly or turn a blind eye?

But probably my favorite part of the interview:

I ask young Will a question that might be a civics test nightmare for your average 10-year-old.  Will's answer, though, is good enough — simple enough, true enough — to give me a little rush of goose pimples.  What does being an American mean?

“Freedom of speech,” Will says, without even stopping to think. “The freedom to disagree.  That's what I think pretty much being an American represents.”

Thanks for your bravery and willingness to stand up, or in this case sit down, for what you believe in Will!!

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