Another day, another white person who was once in the spotlight trying to hold onto any sense of relevance by any means. The way to hold onto relevance? Pander to an audience of ignorant individuals who revel in the phrase “Make America Great Again.” Great, as in 1940’s and 50’s America. This time, the culprit was former Chicago Bears head coach and player Mike Ditka.
In a radio interview with Jim Gray before “Monday Night Football”, Ditka added his two cents on the players who kneel during the National Anthem.
“All of a sudden it has become a big deal now……about oppression. There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of. Now maybe I’m not watching it as carefully as other people. I think the opportunity is there for everybody….race, religion, creed, color, nationality. If you want to work, if you want to try, if you want to put effort in, you can accomplish anything. And we have watched that throughout our history of our Country.”
Just in case you were wondering, Mike Ditka was born on October 18, 1939. That would make him 78 years old in eight days. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. Mike Ditka was 16 years-old. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the voting rights act on August 6, 1965. The act gave African Americans the right to vote in every State in America, finally removing the barriers that had attempted to prevent African Americans from voting. Mike Ditka was 26 years-old. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on a balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. Mike Ditka was 29-years old. Kind of hard to make the argument that you haven’t noticed oppression in this Country in the last 100 years when it was right there in front of your eyes, and more importantly, you were old enough to know, and understand what was going on. Mike Ditka, a man who played and coached in the NFL during the most oppressive times this Country has ever seen, says he never noticed oppression in this Country.
