Former Chicago Bears head coach and player Mike Ditka simply cannot understand why some NFL players feel a need to kneel during the national anthem as a way to bring attention to discrimination against African-Americans. After all, Ditka maintains, there hasn’t been any oppression in the United States for the past 100 years.

Ditka was interviewed by Jim Gray on Westwood One, and the vocal Trump supporter sounded like he’d just gotten his talking points and marching orders from the White House:

“I think that you have to be color blind in this country. Have you got to look at a person for what he is and what he stands for. And how he produces. All of a sudden it’s become a big dealing now about oppression. There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of.”

No oppression in the last 100 years? Really, Mike? How about these facts that you conveniently overlooked:

  • In the South, an estimated two or three blacks were lynched each week in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Mississippi alone, 500 blacks were lynched from the 1800s to 1955. Nationwide, the figure climbed to nearly 5,000.
  • Until 1965, blacks could not vote in most Southern states.
  • There was once a time in this country when African-Americans were forced to use separate bathroom facilities, go to woefully inadequate public schools, and ride at the back of buses.

The 77-year-old Ditka then added:

“I don’t care who you are, how much money you make. If you don’t respect our country, then you shouldn’t be in this country playing football. Go to another country and play football. If you can’t respect the flag and the country, then you don’t respect what this is all about. So I would say adios.”

Hey, Mike, are you aware that the flag you worship so much is nothing but a piece of cloth? It seems the flag and the anthem are being made into idols for us to all worship, which is complete bullshit. The Founding Fathers didn’t mention tests of loyalty or patriotism. And the fact that this entire matter has been stirred up by a “president” who may well have committed treason with Russia is even more galling.

Flags and national anthems are nothing but symbols. And as such, they can be ignored or rejected as each of us chooses.

Featured Image Via Fox News Screengrab