You can't erase history by trying to ignore history. Nike folded under pressure from Colin Kaepernik to pull its Fourth of July Air Mike 1 Quick Strike Force tennis shoe off the market.
Kaepernik protested because the flag used on the back of the shoe was the one Betsy Ross is credited for designing to represent the 13 colonies that signed the Declaration of Independence, ending England's rule over what would become the United States of America.
Kaepernik made a name for himself while in the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice in America. That's his right. But the fact that he was making millions of dollars playing football was made possible when Betsy Ross made the flag and the Second Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. We celebrate it on the Fourth of July because that's when Congress declared independence.
Ross' flag with the 13 stars representing the colonies was what started the freedoms people like Kaepernik enjoyed in the past and continues to enjoy. He claimed the flag was disrespectful to blacks because it implied the new nation's inclusion of slavery.
Kaepernik continued to protest the flag once it got its 50 stars representing each state in the union. We wonder where Kaepernik would be today without the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution that followed that gave him the right to not only make his millions but spit in the face of the country that gave him that right? It was these rights given to Kaepernik on July 4, 1776 that gave him an opportunity to succeed in a capitalistic society.
We're not Nike fans because they use people to sell overpriced shoes that sometimes leaves people dead.
Nike folded way too quickly at Kaepernik's request. We wonder if Kaepernik would have cried foul with the current American flag with 50 stars?
Instead of condemning the past, Kaepernik needs to focus on the fact that this country ended slavery and gave him and other black citizens an opportunity to succeed.
Those 13 stars stitched by Ross showed the foundation of the greatest nation in the world. Nike should be ashamed of itself for not honoring this nation's history.
