Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is getting a history lesson after he lashed out at America on July 4th with a quote from abolitionist Frederick Douglass that appeared to harshly criticize “the people of these United States.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others are pointing out that Kaepernick cited only a small portion of the speech, distorting the meaning.
It’s all about his complaint this week that caused Nike to cancel a special issue of shoes featuring the Betsy Ross flag. Despite the flag’s use during Barack Obama’s inauguration, Kaepernick insisted it was a symbol of slavery.
The company faced a huge backlash, and talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted Kaepernick.
“These people are not interested in what’s best for America. They want to tear it down, folks,” Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated show. “They’re not even hiding it anymore. They’re not trying to even camouflage it. They aren’t trying to mask it. They aren’t trying to deceive us. They’re flat-out in our faces. They don’t like this country, and it’s not about fixing it. It’s about tearing it down.”
Limbaugh said Kaepernick “and his behavior and Nike going along with him, in my estimation, is flat-out un-American.”
“It’s anti-America, let’s put it that way. We don’t have any overlap here where it used to be said (impression), ‘Yeah, well, we’re all. … We all want the best for America. We just have different, uh, theories about how to get there.’ They’re not looking at the best! They want to rip this country apart. They want to tear up the concepts of the American founding.”
At the time, Cruz put the matter in perspective via Twitter.
“It’s a good think Nike only wants to sell sneakers to people who hate the American flag,” he said.
On July 4, Kaepernick, who previously had not commented directly on the controversy, excerpted a quote from a Douglass speech. He posted on Twitter the abolitionist’s statement: “What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? This Fourth of July is yours, not mine… There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.”
Twitter news aggregator Twitchy noted Cruz and Charles C.W. Cooke, among others, pointed out the misleading post.
“Failed NFL AQ Colin Kaepernick thought it would be a good idea to share this Frederick Douglass quote in an effort to bash the United States on Independence Day. His problem, however, is that he didn’t read the rest of the speech and sharing this quote out of context is just plain embarrassing,” Twitchy said.
Cruz said the speech by Douglass, indeed, was “mighty and historic.”
But he said Kaepernick’s editing concealed several significant points:
He explained: “(1) This speech was given in 1852, before the Civil War, when the abomination of slavery still existed. Thanks to Douglass and so many other heroes, we ended that grotesque evil and have made enormous strides to protecting the civil rights of everybody.”
Cruz added: “(2) Douglass was not anti-American; he was, rightly and passionately, anti-slavery. Indeed, he concluded the speech as follows: ‘Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country.'”
Douglass said:
“There are forces in operation, which must inevitably, work in the downfall of slavery. ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened,’ and the doom of slavery is certain.”
I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from ‘the Declaration of Independence,’ the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.”
Cruz’s suggestion: “READ THE ENTIRE SPEECH.”
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported Nike was dropping the sneaker because Kaepernick said he and others consider the Betsy Ross flag to be offensive. Nike shares immediately fell, and CBS reported Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said would rescind financial incentives recently offered to Nike to build a $185 million plant and bring 500 jobs to the state.
In a tweet, Ducey called Nike’s decision a “shameful retreat,” saying “American businesses should be proud of our country’s history, not abandoning it.”
Kaepernick launched the national-anthem protest movement in the NFL, which he said was in protest of police officers killing unarmed black men.
He was unable to sign a new contract and eventually settled a lawsuit against the league alleging owners conspired against him.
The post Kaepernick's rant undermined by 'rest of the speech' appeared first on WND.
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