A financier and a dancer walked down the streets of the Castro neighborhood on the Fourth of July. With duffel bags full of gym equipment, Keanu Brady, 26, and Miles Walls, 34, waited for traffic to halt so they could continue their journey through the Castro. During their childhood, Keanu and Miles recited the Pledge of Allegiance regularly until secondary school without a full understanding of it. They each had different reasons for altering the pledge for their own purposes, or halted reciting it all together.

After he finished middle school, Keanu Brady stopped reciting the pledge as his understanding of it grew. He realized that historical social injustices led him to disagree with the words in the pledge. Miles Walls began to omit the “Under God” part of the pledge as his identity further developed. “I can’t say I was forced to say [the Pledge of Allegiance] but there was certainly a societal pressure, or a peer pressure… When you’re in a room with 30 or 40 people and they’re all saying it, you can’t not say it especially at a young age,” Walls said.

As a child, Miles Walls believed the word indivisible was invisible in the Pledge of Allegiance, and it was never explained to him, so he did not realize his mistake for years. One nation, under God, invisible. Walls said, “I feel like it was intended to unite us… and I don’t think it has done it. And, I think now it kind of underscores the disconnect between what we aspire to be and where we are.”

In a line reaching the sidewalks of the Mission District, Gigi Lee (27) and Fei Lee (24) awaited the renowned pastries at Tartine bakery. The two recounted the last time they pledged allegiance to the flag. It was not hard for Fei Lee to recount the last recitation as she is a teacher. Fei Lee said, “I felt kind of sad that my students were having to recite this thing they didn’t understand. They were only like seven.”

Gigi believes there is a better way to demonstrate patriotism. “[The Pledge of Allegiance] is a very narrow view of what it means to have pride for a country, right?” Gigi said. Gigi Lee finds her sense of pride not in the Pledge of Allegiance, but in cultural diversity. Regarding the cultivation of a sense of community, Gigi said, “Allowing them (immigrants) the space to celebrate and bring together all of their own individual cultures is probably a more important priority.”

The two discussed the uneasiness among American citizens ranging in ethnicities and sexual orientation due to the current political climate. It affects Fei Lee’s students as well, as most are undocumented.

Fei delivered a chilling account of what she believes the Pledge of Allegiance stands for. “I think it stands for the years of brainwashing people into thinking that this country is better and perpetuating white supremacy…. All the covering up of history and genocide…. And all of these truths that have been hidden from the students and young people, and new generations to come. It’s really sad and depressing,” Fei said.

In Dolores Park, Katherine Piercy (29) and Liliana Dragnev (28) opened a bottle of celebratory alcohol to celebrate the Fourth of July. As they relaxed on the hill overlooking the diverse Dolores Park, the two discussed their history with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Spending their primary and secondary education in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Piercy and Dragnev were both required to recite the Pledge as it remains an Indiana law that the Pledge of Allegiance is recited each school morning.

Piercy remains confined by the same restraints as she is currently a teacher in Indiana. With time, Piercy’s personal connection to the words of the Pledge has strengthened. She said, “I feel much more connected to the words when it is said because you’re truly trying to say, this is the country to which I pledge my allegiance to. People don’t understand what it is anymore.”

Piercy compared the recitation of the Pledge as if the kids were saying lyrics to a song. Piercy emphasized the negative aspects of the Pledge of Allegiance. “[The Pledge of Allegiance] becomes just an everyday occurrence, and in a way it cheapens it.[Students] don’t understand where the words came from…They don’t know any of the history of that. They simply know it like a nursery rhyme,” Piercey said.

Similar to Piercy, during most of Dragnev’s childhood, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance proved to be meaningless, yet the power of those words shifted for Dragnev at age 15. At her parents’ swearing-in naturalization ceremony, the Dragnevs stated the Pledge of Allegiance.“That was the moment where it’s like we’re choosing to be apart of this country. We’re choosing to be American… and that gave me pride for so long and it still does. Seeing these marches and protests, and people speaking out about what it means to be American,” Dragnev said.