Kaepernick & Nike: Morality or Money?

It's no secret that Colin Kaepernick's demonstrations have caused immense controversy,  and created a polarizing divide between football fans and the politically aware. In this blog, I want to take a moment to hear from both sides of the argument -- those approving and disapproving of Nike's campaign Kaepernick's activism.

First and foremost I'd like to note two very revealing surveys conducted by Quinnipiac University and Omnibus. These two polls found that Kaepernick's actions were appreciated and supported by the majority of the voters and that younger voters from eighteen to thirty-four were much more likely to support this side of the debate that voters aged sixty-five and older. Some say that Kaepernick is a hero, and that his sacrifice was duely made. Many of those on the side against Kaepernick and Nike have argued that his protest in incredibly distasteful, disrespectful and misdirected. It seems to some that his fieldside demonstrations are more aimed at creating controversy and cultural division than creating change. They ask why Kaepernick would publicly disrespect the country that so many men and women have given their lives for. They ridicule the fact that Kaepernick would disrespect a country whose freedoms allow him to protest and demonstrate as he so pleases, and thereby bites the hand that feeds him. I too do not agree with the morality or logic in his course of action. One must recognize that a country is capable of change for the better. It is the shared desire to have our countries change for the better that allows leftists and right-wingers to compare their visions of the future to create one that is mutually beneficial. All Americans, despite their differences, are taught to stand for their anthem to celebrate their country and as is and as it will be. They recognize that their country is not perfect, yet they celebrate its potential to change and accept their responsibility in leading it to a brighter future. Therefore by kneeling for the anthem Kaepernick symbolically spits in the face of those who have pushed the country forward and allowed us the comparatively luxurious, secure, and free lives that we live today.  

It is for this reason that I don’t think Nike truly cares about racial issues in the US. Colin Kaepernick himself hardly sacrificed everything, especially compared to those who very laid down their lives for the country that he dishonors. It might not even be right to call this a sacrifice, because a sacrifice implies that something was obtained. Kaepernick’s sacrifice created nothing but noise -- noise that Nike profited from and did nothing substantial to help the oppressed communities and minorities that they supposedly represented and cared deeply for.