What is the Betsy Ross flag, and what’s the controversy?
A late 18th-century version of the American flag is making 2019 headlines.
Nike has pulled shoes featuring a “Betsy Ross flag” after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick said the design was an offensive symbol to him and others, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey responded on Twitter early Tuesday morning, saying the decision made him “embarrassed for Nike.” He said he ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars for Nike to open a manufacturing plant in Goodyear.
Ducey also posted a message accusing Nike of calling Betsy Ross “unworthy.”
“It shouldn’t take a controversy over a shoe for our kids to know who Betsy Ross is,” Ducey posted on Twitter. “A founding mother. Her story should be taught in all American schools. In the meantime, it’s worth googling her.”
The Republic did Google her. We also talked to experts about who she was and why the flag often attributed to her is a source of controversy for some.
What is the Betsy Ross flag?
The flag we now call the Betsy Ross flag has a circle of 13 five-point stars in a blue patch on the top left corner. Thirteen alternating red-and-white stripes cut horizontally through the rest of the cloth.
The Continental Congress called for such a flag on June 14, 1777. The number of stars and stripes represent the 13 original colonies.
“This flag maintained familiar colors but was consciously designed to represent the new polity, and it’s no coincidence that the states figured so importantly in the symbolism, since those loyalties ran high and the revolutionary government empowered the states,” said Catherine O’Donnell, an associate professor of history at Arizona State University.
Is it a hate-group symbol?
That depends who you ask, though generally it is not viewed that way.
In 2016, students waved the Betsy Ross flag and a Trump banner at a high school football game in Michigan, prompting the superintendent to apologize. The local NAACP chapter released a statement saying the flag was “associated with ‘racial supremacy’ groups.”
The Betsy Ross flag has been used by many different groups over the years, including extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, said Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. He said the association is weak compared to other symbols, though.
“Most white supremacists would not know what the Betsy Ross flag was if you asked them about it, compared to all the other symbols that they constantly use,” Pitcavage said.
The anti-government “militia movement” also uses the Betsy Ross flag. Pitcavage said that tie wasn’t strong enough for the average person to immediately connect the two.
Roy Tatem, president of the East Valley NAACP, said he didn’t believe the flag was intended to be racist or a racially motivated symbol.
He said there wasn’t evidence of Ross being a racist or a slaveholder and he didn’t find the flag offensive.
“However, I believe that we should look at the nuance of it, the history around it,” Tatem said.
Pitcavage said the League doesn’t consider the flag a white supremacy symbol.
“It’s not on our hate symbols list,” he said. “We view it as a historical, patriotic flag that is usually innocuous.”
Nike released a statement Tuesday it regularly makes “business decisions to withdraw initiatives, products and services.”
“Nike made the decision to halt distribution of the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July based on concerns that it could unintentionally offend and detract from the nation’s patriotic holiday,” the statement read.
“Nike is a company American heritage.” proud of its