Why So Angry? Nike and Colin Kaepernick

You may have heard that Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30-year anniversary campaign.

And you may have also heard that there are some people who are quite pissed off at Nike. Some of them are boycotting the brand, allegedly. And some of them are cutting up their Nike wear and/or lighting it on fire, not allegedly.



Colin Kaepernick presents a complex case when it comes to how society views him. On the one hand, he wore those cops as pigs socks and said that he wasn’t going to vote in 2016 because Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were one and the same. On the other hand, Kaepernick raised $1 million for charity, risked his football career to bring attention to racial inequality and police brutality, and started a non-profit campaign to educate kids as to their rights as humans. Oh, and he chose as his form of protest kneeling during the national anthem. Never mind that he ran the nature of his protest by Army Green Beret and NFLer Nate Boyer, who endorsed kneeling as a respectful gesture.

Kaepernick is this generation’s Muhammad Ali, not because he’s the greatest, but because he’s the most polarizing athlete of his time. People forget that Muhammad Ali was either loved or hated during his time, nothing in between. And lest you forget, there were plenty of people in this nation who absolutely hated Ali while he protested the Vietnam War abroad and treatment of minorities at home.

But is Colin Kaepernick cashing in now on his revolution to a degree? Yes. Would he be earning more money if he wasn’t blackballed by the NFL? Yes. Think about it though. You can’t stand Kaepernick because he took a knee during the anthem. Colin Kaepernick can’t stand police brutality or racial inequality. Who’s got the bigger gripe? But we digress.

Rather than give you our theory, we would rather ask the following: If you’re so angry at Colin Kaepernick . . .

Were you angry to the point of clothes burning when Ben Roethlisberger twice settled cases involving rape? Did you boycott the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Did you burn your Nike apparel when the company re-upped with Michael Vick post-dog murdering prison sentence?

Are you cool with Jameis Winston still having a job despite sexual assault allegations against him? Where is your outrage toward the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Famous Jameis?

Did you burn your Ravens jersey when Ray Lewis pled guilty to obstructing justice in a double murder case? Two people are dead. The man is still on television providing analysis to this day. Why aren’t you angry to the point of ire?

How about Joe Mixon? He knocked out a woman in a fist fight. Did you get him in the third round of your fantasy draft?

What about the NFL domestic abusers and accused domestic abusers, Tyreek Hill, Dede Westbrook, and LeSean McCoy. You good with them being in the NFL? You setting their stuff on fire?

The point is, you may be angry with Kaepernick, but if you’re not far more upset by the above athletes’ transgressions then you’re a hypocrite, and a big one. Oh, and if you weren’t angrier with Nike over child labor than you are now about the Kaepernick campaign . . . well, what does that say about you and your moral outrage?

One thought on “Why So Angry? Nike and Colin Kaepernick

  1. There is no systemic killing or targeting of blacks by police. The numbers do not support it. He is protesting a problem that doesn’t exist. There is no systemic racism in this country. It’s like protesting for women’s rights when they already have all the same rights as men.

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