Nike has recently been in the news for withdrawing from the marketplace a new Independence Day-themed shoe featuring the Revolutionary War-era flag designed by Betsy Ross that was used on the original Fourth of July.
The pusillanimous cowards who run Nike did this in response to a complaint from Colin Kaepernick who is well known for his hostility to American Patriotic Symbols. Not only will I never purchase another product from Nike but I am looking to purchase a shirt with the Revolutionary-era flag design.
I want to preface my remarks by stating that I am proud to be a fourth generation American, while my children are fifth generation and my grandchildren are sixth generation.
I still get a thrill every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful and G-d Bless America . The web site Educational Background states that Mr. Kaepernick graduated from the Universality of Nevada with a degree in business education.
The United States that he hates so much gave him an opportunity to make tens of millions of dollars playing football. While he was in college I wonder if he ever took any courses in American or World History.
Since I am unsure, I think that it would be advisable for him to visit England , Belgium , France or any other Country in Europe where World War I or II were fought. He should visit the graves of the brave soldiers that gave their lives protecting the freedom that he thinks so little of.
He should also visit the concentration camps that we helped liberate. These concentration camps murdered millions whose only crime was that they were Jews. Mr. Kaepernick should learn about the hundreds of thousands of men and women who gave their lives for their flag and of the many more who suffered traumatic physical and mental injuries.
It was the United States that helped win World War I, World II and the Cold War. It was the United States that defeated the Central Powers in World War I, the Nazis and Fascists in World War II and the Communists in the Cold War.
I am sick and tired of so-called “Entertainers” and “Athletes” whose only claim to fame is their ability is to excel in a small niche pontificating on the “shortcomings” of the United States of America.
Their contribution to what makes the United States great is minimal at best. Since Mr. Kaepernick thinks so little of the United States and the service and sacrifice of so many heroes that made it possible for him to play a game for a living, I would like to invite him to move to a county of his own choice such as Cuba, Venezuela or Iran.
In fact, I am willing to pay for a one-way flight there so he can learn to appreciate the greatest country that ever existed, the United States of America.
Jack Lipsky
Great Neck
