Get ready for your Facebook feed to be inundated with your uncles and cousins burning their Nike gear once again. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick convinced Nike to pull it’s “Betsy Ross Flag” shoe from stores after pointing out that the specific flag design used on the back of the shoe is regularly flown by extremist white supremacist groups in the United States.
The shoe in question was the Nike Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July with the 13-star flag on the heel.
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“Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag,” a spokesperson for Nike told the Wall Street Journal, who originally broke the story.
Kaepernick has yet to publicly comment on the shoe or Nike’s decision not to give racists some cool new kicks to wear, but that won’t stop Twitter and talk radio from making it all about him and not the symbol that has been publicly adopted by racists groups.
Key point in this unfolding story that some outlets seem to be missing: part of the problem for @Nike with the Betsy Ross flag being on a shoe is that it has been adopted by some as a symbol of white nationalism. That has been a story for a few years. https://t.co/eIu2CH760l
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) July 2, 2019
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season after he became more famous for his anti police/state-sanctioned brutality anthem kneeling protests than his play on the field. Last season, he was awarded an undisclosed settlement, along with his former teammate Eric Reid, in their collusion case against the NFL. Reid continues to play in the league and is currently with the Carolina Panthers.
Kaepernick is one of the key figureheads in Nike’s Just Do It campaign. The former quarterback has been on Nike’s athlete roster since 2011.
Editors need to change up the headlines on this Colin Kaepernick story. @Nike isn't pulling the shoes just because it's a 'slave era' flag, they're pulling them because the flag has been adopted by CURRENT neo-Nazi groups like Patriot Movement and Identity Evropa.
— @maryemilyohara.bsky.social (@handmaidskale) July 2, 2019
Even though the shoes will no longer be in stores, those that did get out are skyrocketing in value. According to CBS Sports, the shoes are going for as high as $2,000 a pair. A version of the shoe without the flag remains available in red, white and blue.
