I was watching the parade of nations of the opening ceremony of the 2022 winter Olympic Games. The flag-bearer for the United States Virgin Islands delegation was a Chinese volunteer. This was done because the islands’ sole athlete, and ipso facto flag-bearer, Katie Tannenbaum, had tested positive for covid-19 and was unable to participate in the parade, but it still rubs me the wrong way.

I believe that only American citizens should act as flag-bearers for the Olympic delegations of the United States and its territories. A member of Team USA could have stepped in. While the volunteer flag-bearer is certainly not to blame for the actions of the Chinese government, to allow a foreign citizen to act as a flag-bearer projects a feeling of foreign, Chinese influence on a territory of the United States.

Citizens of United States territories like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands already have feelings of being left behind by the mainland. Allowing a non-American citizen to be a flag-bearer for a U.S. territory at an international event is a slap in the face.

Joseph Leckenby

Mt. Lebanon

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