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Letter: Flag maker parrots Trump

(Nike via AP) This undated product image obtained by The Associated Press shows Nike Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July shoes that have a U.S. flag with 13 white stars in a circle on it, known as the Betsy Ross flag, on them. Nike is pulling the flag-themed tennis shoe after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick complained to the shoemaker, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The recent controversy surrounding flags on shoes left me baffled.

I was raised on the wholesome Betsy Ross tale and as a young girl in Utah I thought: “Yes! A woman was there, appropriately sewing on the sidelines.”

I didn’t like thinking that that flag could be tangled up in any unpleasantness. It was women’s work! Our claim to fame!

(Never mind how creating the U.S., let alone a flag, already spelled doom for the folks who were already living here).

I did not want to believe that the Betsy Ross flag had been or could be used in a racist way. That is, until I saw it for myself this past week in Colonial Flag’s choice to capitalize on the controversy and in the owner’s Trumpist parroting.

Borrowing one from the president’s line, Paul Swenson boasted: “We’re going to have more people get it than the few losers that don’t.”

Proof positive.

Brandi Chase, Salt Lake City

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