The Great Betsy Ross Sneaker Debacle

In the historical scheme of things, my big brother has, on occasion, attempted to bend me to his will. He has gone as far as to serenade me with songs from that long-lost musical, "Christopher Columbus", just to see if he can get me to budge. I'm a stubborn sort, so he hasn't had much luck, but yesterday was one of those rare moments of budging. He suggested I write about the Great Betsy Ross Sneaker Debacle. So, BBB, here ya go.

I like Colin Kaepernick. I don't always agree with him, but he puts himself out there for causes in which he believes. Ardently believes. That's admirable on many levels, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna take the knee for everything he supports. And Betsy Ross Sneakers ain't one of them.

There are a number of reasons I can't back Colin on this one. Here's the list:

1. Betsy Ross was a devout Quaker, which meant she was  most likely an abolitionist because that was a tenet of her religion.
2. Betsy Ross was born in 1752 and died in 1836. I don't think women of that period were out there demonstrating for civil rights or anything else for that matter. You can't hold her responsible for something that did not exist.
3. Betsy Ross was apparently hired to do this job, or at least part of this job, because she was a professional. She had some instructions from George Washington, and she did what she was asked to do.
4. The thirteen stars on the flag represented the 13 colonies breaking away from England. You could put a swastika in the middle of that blue field and the overwhelming majority of Americans would take great offense at that misuse of our first flag.  Same applies to putting III in the middle: it doesn't belong there.
5. According to the Anti-Defamation League, people who associate the Betsy Ross Flag with white supremacy or anti-government militias are marginal in numbers.
6. Besides, Nike sneakers aren't even American. Yeah, Nike is ostensibly an American company, but they don't manufacture so much as a shoelace in this country. Their sneakers are made in China, Vietnam, and/or Indonesia. The only thing Nike makes in The United States of America is profit.

You cannot re-write history and make the Revolutionary War about slavery. It wasn't. You cannot downplay its importance because it wasn't about civil rights; that is absurd.

Yes, both Washington and Jefferson were slave holders, and yes, in our thinking and in the thinking of many people of that time, slavery was evil. But it was also the socially acceptable norm. No, that didn't make it right. Yes, it had to change. Yes, there had to be abolition. And yes, there had to be a civil war. 

The Constitution, imperfect as it is, was really the first tentative step recognizing there was a different reality to be had. Like any other sociopolitical change, the road to equality started at the beginning and kept building until there were enough citizens demanding change. Announcing we should have done something earlier is not constructive; it's blame and that is useless. It doesn't change what happened...or didn't happen. It deflects from the real issues, and the real issues remain inequality and economic disparity in this country. It negates the continued efforts to change our own reality.

As for the flag itself, it's made of cloth. It is not sacred. You can burn it in protest. You can hang it upside down in distress. You can argue with its position on the pole.  You can say it needs a 51st star for Puerto Rico. You can say it needs another star so New York can finally split. But you can't change the part where George Washington hired Betsy Ross and told her to put thirteen stars on a field of blue with thirteen red and white stripes. It is what it is. You get to have an opinion about how it's made, how it looks, how it flies.  But you don't get to have an opinion about what the stars represent. It's just that simple.

In protesting the existence of the sneakers which, for the record, I think are tasteless and an inappropriate place for any American flag, Mr. Kaepernick just gave additional voice and credence to the trash that misuses that flag as its own twisted symbol. The people who put III in the middle are so marginal that no one recognizes it's even a thing, but this nonsense gave them visibility and credibility. I'm not advocating ignoring who and what they are, but let's not do them any favors, either.  I do not want that wonderful image of 13 stars on a field of blue to go the way of the irredeemable swastika. 

Emanuel Leutze - 1851 - Metropolitan Museum

Every country has it folktales, folk heroes, and fables, and while we will never fully know the story of how Betsy Ross got the commission (she was a business woman and well-qualified) the reality is she probably had something to do with the first flag. I like that she ran her own upholstery business. I like that she was a woman who survived on her own strength and gumption. Instead of tearing down that image, why not point out the real Betsy Ross, consider her a folk hero, and praise that as we hoist the ancient flag up the pole to celebrate how We, the People started? That's not apologia...that's telling the assholes who want to twist and co-opt OUR symbol to knock it off now, that we won't tolerate their perversion.

As much as Mr. Kaepernick would like to make everything about slavery, he can't. Nor should he. There are a few people ahead on the injustice line. Maybe he should be busy protesting the Cleveland INDIANS or the Atlanta BRAVES while seeking restitution of tribal lands stolen from the First Nations of this continent. Where is his outrage for the repeated attempts at genocide directed at the original inhabitants of this manifest destiny? You know, Mr. Kaepernick, they were free when everyone else got here....their enslavement, removal, abuse, and denial of rights continued long after the slaves were freed...right into the 20th century...right past the Civil Rights Movement.  There was never a civil war or a civil rights movement for them.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Through FIL, whose family first came in the late 17th century, 

my kids and grandkiddies are direct descendants of 

an American Revolutionary War soldier from Pennsylvania.  

I am certain he fought bravely at the Battle of EWR