At first glance, Kemba Walker’s bright yellow jacket looks like a bold fashion choice for its loud color scheme (all yellow). But then you see the coiled rattlesnake.
Walker showed up to the TD Garden Tuesday sporting a piece emblazoned with the Gadsden Flag and the phrase, “Don’t Tread on Me.” Originally, the banner served as an anti-British rallying cry during the Revolutionary War. But over the last 226 years, its symbolism has evolved.
Nowadays, it’s commonly associated with far-right politics. The yellow flag was prominently displayed in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, as well as the infamous Charlottesville rally in 2017.
For those interested, the New Yorker published a piece exploring how the contemporary version of the flag has been adopted by the Klu Klux Klan and other white supremacists.
When the Celtics tweeted a picture of Walker in the jacket, users immediately questioned Walker’s wardrobe. The image was quickly deleted.
After the game, Walker said he was ignorant of the jacket’s symbolism, and just liked the colors. James Harden gave a similar explanation last summer when was called out for wearing a face mask adorned with a design commonly associated with the “Blue Lives Matter” movement.
Regardless, the social media fervor didn’t appear to affect Walker on the court. He finished with 29 points in Boston’s 118-100 win over Washington.
I suppose it is possible every professional athlete isn’t attune to every emblem that’s associated with radical political movements. Imagine how much healthier they must be.
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