Dr. Charles Angeletti is a tenured professor of history at the publicly funded Metropolitan State University (MSU) in Denver, Colorado, where he has taught since 1967. A self-described “cynic, socialist, atheist and No. 1 admirer of the-late Howard Zinn,” Angeletti teaches an American Civilization course wherein, each year since the early 1990s, he has required his students to recite a satirical Pledge of Allegiance mocking America as a racist, sexist, homophobic nation. It reads as follows:

“I pledge allegiance to, and wrap myself in, the flag of the United States Against Anything Un-American, and to the Republicans for which it stands, two nations, under Jesus, rich against poor, with curtailed liberty and justice for all except blacks, homosexuals, women who want abortions, Communists, welfare queens, treehuggers, feminazis, illegal immigrants, children of illegal immigrants, and you if you don’t watch your step.”

Angeletti made headlines in the fall semester of 2014, when then-MSU freshman Steven Farr reported that the professor routinely repressed dissenting opinions and offered no alternative political perspectives to his students. Noting also that few students had been able to muster the courage to openly protest Angeletti’s methods, Farr told the publication Campus Reform: “This [recitation of the satirical Pledge of Allegiance] was an attempt to propagandize an entire classroom of young adults.”

In response to Farr’s remarks, Angeletti doubled down on his position, saying: “We’re [Americans are] very racist, we’re very repressive, we’re very Christian oriented, we don’t tolerate other kinds of thinking in this country. I could go on and on—and do in my classes for hours—about things that we need to do to make this a better country.” Voicing disdain for “family values people,” the professor added: “We are scared to death of anything un-American.”

He resigned from the University in 2017.

Additional Resources:

Further Reading: “Professor Distributed ‘New Pledge’ to Racist America That Excludes Rights for ‘Blacks, Homosexuals’” (Campus Reform, 12-8-2014); “Colorado Professor Who Forced Students to Say Anti-American Pledge Is Cleared of Wrongdoing Following Investigation” (Christian Post, 1-7-2015).