Megan Rapinoe And Colin Kaepernick Need To Watch Robin Williams Celebrate America’s Flag The Federalist, Jul 10, 2019, Cheryl Magness
On Sunday, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) defeated the Netherlands 2-0 to win the 2019 Women’s World Cup. In a video of the ensuing celebration, posted to Twitter by Jonathan Gilliam, team member Allie Long appears to try to give an American flag to team captain Megan Rapinoe. Rapinoe waves it away and Long drops the flag, after which she, Rapinoe, and another team member step on it during a celebratory dance. Meanwhile, a fourth team member comes up from behind to retrieve the flag from the ground.
The display was no surprise to anyone who has been paying minimal attention in recent months. Rapinoe has received extensive coverage for her refusal to place her hand over her heart, sing the national anthem, or visit the White House if invited. She is not, of course, the first sports figure or celebrity to do any of those things. But when one is playing on a team that has “U.S.†in its name, the snub seems more than a little ironic.
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Delivering a dramatic monologue from the perspective of “flag,†the U.S. flag, Williams movingly observes:
People haven’t always been respectful to me…but I don’t let it get me down because I’m not a stay-at-home kind of flag…But I gotta tell you something honestly. I haven’t been getting out much lately. I guess it’s not very chic to put up the flag anymore…But look at this way. Don’t look at it as saluting me. Look at it as saluting yourselves. Hey, I’m just a flag, a symbol. You’re the people. If I may say so from here, long may you wave.
Williams seemingly understood what today’s left does not: that the flag is a symbol not of any particular president, party, or agenda, but of the American people. Those people, and their nation, have a varied history and makeup. Some of it is not so good. Much of it is better than anything the world has ever seen.
More:
https://thefederalist.com/2019/07/10/megan-rapinoe-colin-kaepernick-need-watch-robin-williams-celebrate-americas-flag/
