On Friday, Super Bowl-winning coach and NFL Hall of Famer Mike Ditka appeared on Dallas radio show The Fan, where he sounded off on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, which has quickly consumed the nation.
Let’s just say the former tight end is not a fan of Kaepernick’s anti-American stunt.
“I think it’s a problem,” said Ditka. “Anybody who disrespects this country and the flag. If they don’t like the country, they don’t like our flag, get the hell out.
“I have no respect for Colin Kaepernick,” he added. “He probably has no respect for me, that’s his choice.”
In late August, the backup 49er QB decided to sit during the playing of our national anthem to protest the alleged systemic racism of law enforcement and the country as a whole for supposedly condoning the “murder” of blacks and other minorities.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told the press. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Ditka, on the other hand, doesn’t see the racist America Kaepernick illustrates in order to justify his protest.
“My choice is that I like this country, I respect our flag, and I don’t see all the atrocities going on in this country that people say are going on,” the former Bears coach told The Fan.
Black Lives Matter, the mainstream media, Kaepernick, and others have pushed the narrative that blacks are being targeted by cops because of the color their skin and “murdered” for sport. They have used a number of cases of justified police shootings to help deceptively advance their dangerous narrative—of course, storyline adjustments have been created along the way (See: “Hands up, don’t shoot” lie).
But the truth is, statistics and facts of exploited cases do not match such a narrative.
Of course, Kaepernick, et al. still have the right to peacefully protest and voice their opinion in this beautifully free country. But it doesn’t change the fact that disrespecting those who’ve died for our freedom by sitting during the anthem will almost always upset more Americans than advance your cause.