I did not take the Pledge of Allegiance
The Earth Pledge (above) that I took on Oath when I was expected to take the Pledge of Allegiance.
I was expected to tale the Pledge of Allegiance at my recent Oath Ceremony to become a US citizen and I did not, extended it instead. This may seem like an act of rebellion and in some ways it is. But for me, it came from a place of love and truth more than a defiant stance. I chose the beautifully planned solemn naturalization ceremony at the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland, CA as an occasion to have strangers representing 100 countries, friends and family (old and new) witness me taking a pledge that is more fundamental to who I am than my citizenship (former and new). The pledge I took is perhaps also fundamental to who you are. But that is really for you to assess and my making visible how I designed my experience at this ceremony may act as a mirror for all of us.
The only Oath, sacred to me is my Oath to life. And though death and destruction are integral to life, wherever there is the destruction of life because of greed, oppression, prejudice, ignorance — my energy, my life breath will serve to fight that with love. And this is the only Pledge of Allegiance I am willing to take with my full heart, mind, body, and soul.
And so yes, during the ceremony with my right hand up in the room full of 1255 immigrants and thousands of friends and family, I read out an earth pledge gloriously out of sync and purposely out of tandem with those around me. This was my act of claiming my rightful citizenship to the entire earth. And no man-made boundary, flag or anthem can limit my allegiance from everything that is alive on my beautiful home.
Funnily, having never actually heard the Pledge of Allegiance prior to this moment, the cadence of the pledge turned out to be shorter/faster than the cadence at which I read out my pledge — so I hurried through the last few sentences, and this was also just perfect in its imperfection! I am glad I had the wear with all to record this. The audio is more telling than the visuals.
Me holding the paper, my camera while my right hand was up in Oath!
Other Symbolisms:
Me in my assembled outfit
I also designed my outfit laden with symbols to make this ceremony more meaningful to me.
I chose to wear a Saree, that represents my pride in my culture, the traditions of where I come from and that which I am going to wear proudly as I assimilate into the culture of my new home country. I bought this Saree after much searching. I wanted one that represented the earth. I was initially searching for green, but then came across this beautiful rust-colored one, which had flowers and birds embroidered on it representing the soil, flora, and fauna. Ideally, I would have also liked one representing humans, but again I knew that would be impossible to find. I burst out in tears when while wearing this saree the morning off, a patch of embroidery found itself right over my heart, small but divine punctuation of my intentionality.
I also got bangles to represent the colors of both the Indian & the American flag to show that they are both parts of my identity albeit really small parts.
I am also wearing three dots on my chin. This is something I have been wearing for a while now. My mother was born in the Rajasthan region of India, and the indigenous women adorn face tattoos of dots on the chin, forehead, and neck. To me, this is me reclaiming my indigeneity. Why tree dots? Here is a poem about that. But importantly, I chose to wear them to the ceremony to honor the many indigenous people on whose land, the country of the US is built. And I wanted to honor them for their sacred land keeping and to acknowledge the historic wrongdoing of the place that I now have the privilege and responsibility to call my home. As a citizen of the US, I am an ally, a warrior for all indigenous people in the world.
What is also less obviously visible is a brooch I made with an earring. The earring is an ode to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent collar, her simple yet powerful activism through jewelry, which she wears when she is disagreement with any decision in the justice and political systems. I wore these earrings to my interviews and other bureaucratic processes which are so easily used to oppress people from countries that are held with racist views and deny them a chance to live, forget pursuance of the American dream.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent collar which she wears when she is in disagreement with a decision.
I wore this to acknowledge the painful reality that the decision to make me a citizen stands along with decisions of denial to countless others. And I wore this to show my complete disagreement with every decision made that is oppressive and results in people suffering, dying, families being separated and children being detained. As a citizen, I am a warrior for you wherever you come from.
5. My brooch also has a purple flower. This flower represents a fireweed flower. And I wore this to also pledge my allegiance to my labor of love my heart’s joyful work — The Fireweed Expedition. You can read more about it here.
And I am proud to say, my first act as a citizen was to register to vote. Please register to vote here, if you need to.
The clipboard in my hand holds my registration form to exercise my right and responsibility to vote as a US citizen.
I want to thank all my American friends, who attended the ceremony and those who sent me messages, flowers and cards saying ‘Welcome’. It feels good to jump onto this (burning?!) boat from another (burning!) boat with hands reaching out to invite me in. And I also want to thank those who sent me messages reminding me of the higher truth of my belonging to the one stream of consciousness and also grateful for those who reminded me to fuck all flags!
I also want to thank the USCIS agent Riffka, who was kind and human to me when I was nervous during my interview and because of her decision, I now have a passport of privilege. I want to hold this privilege with grace and with the deepest dedication to use it for my mission as Gaia’s drum and also whenever possible to walk my love to more places and people. USCIS, because of you I will now skip many visa lines to do both those things, so thank you.
And to all my Indian brothers and Sisters, you cannot get rid of me. I am very much and will always be Indian, no matter what my passport says. Like one friend said I am a bar of chocolate with an American shell and a yummy Indian filling.
And finally, I want to thank my mom and dad, who are the only reason why I am here today. Your desire to send me to the US and support me through the process of getting a scholarship and raising loans gave me the blessed chance to live an authentic life even when I could not see that was what I needed. Thank you Nilu and Dolly. Your crazy and weirdo daughter is now ammreeecan!
The backstory of how I found the earth pledge:
That piece of paper has been hanging proudly on my (many) bedroom walls so far since that day. And this paper is what I held and read out during the Oath.
About 4 years ago, I started my journey of reclaiming my place on the stage as a dancer by taking Kathak classes. I needed to reclaim it as I had given it up for almost a decade prior, a decision made for me by a toxic patriarchal and controlling partner. I reached excitedly early to the location, the beautiful Cultural Integration Fellowship in San Francisco. And I found myself a little too early and alone in this room with shelves filled with books and pamphlets. Since books always make me feel safe, I started looking at them to calm myself. I was nervous and excited, my whole body was ready to move, something so natural, a birthright to anyone who possesses a body. And yet the mental conditioning; of how dancing as an Indian woman is a lewd act, an act of drawing the evil eye, or drawing the seductive energy of men; were so strong, that while I knew deep down that my body was meant to move in deep joy, I still felt guilty to be there. In fact, I chose Kathak because it felt less bad, less evil than just moving for the sake of it. And then I found a stack of loose pages with the earth pledge on them. And I read it and it spoke to my soul in a way that cut through the parasitic conditioning running amok in my mind. And I got calm. And when the rest of the class and the amazing teacher came. The first act of saying Pranam which acknowledges and asks for permission from the earth on which we dance, amplified the energetic seed that these words sowed in me.
Also, at the ceremony they played a video of Trump welcoming us as new citizens, the whole crowd loudly booed. Thousands of new citizens booed the president, a reminder that the revolution will not be televised.
I am not Indian. I am not American.
I am human. Nay, I am divine.
And I belong to everything and
everything belongs to my love.
(even those wearing the masks of hate,
for my liberation is tied to theirs and theirs to mine)