Colin Kaepernick was in the news again this week due to another controversy about a flag.
Here's the opinion of a local columnist:
"Nike had planned to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July, featuring the Betsy Ross flag, on July 1 but instead benched it because Colin Kaepernick was offended.
It seems some white nationalist groups in the Patriot Movement have taken to waving the Betsy Ross flag, the one with 13 stars in a circle and 13 stripes. So because a bunch of ignorant jerks co-opted America’s first flag, one of America’s major companies put on a pair of its overpriced footwear and sprinted into full-fledged retreat.
Sorry, Nike, but you red, white and blew it."
http://arizonarepublic.az.newsmemory.com/?publink=1bd445f37
Here's a competing opinion from USA Today:
Roy Tatem, president of the East Valley NAACP, said he didn’t believe the flag was intended to be racist or a racially motivated symbol.
He said there wasn’t evidence of Ross being a racist or a slaveholder and he didn’t find the flag offensive.
http://arizonarepublic.az.newsmemory.com/?publink=09e4c4fde
I strongly support Nike's decision to have Colin Kaepernick their "poster boy", but I'm also of the opinion that they should have explained to him that the Betsy Ross flag should not be considered to be racially insensitive. Kaepernick's opinion is that the shoe reminded him of slavery, but that's REALLY a stretch, since EIGHTEEN U.S. Presidents owned slaves:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_who_owned_slaves
If you carry that argument to its logical conclusion, none of us should keep any bills with denominations of $1,$20, or $50, since Washington, Jackson, and Grant all owed slaves.
That's just silly.
Very few people, including me, had any idea that the Betsy Ross flag was used by white supremacist groups. By their decision to drop the shoe, Nike has inadvertently given free publicity to the white supremacist knuckleheads.