Colin Kaepernick didn’t know it at the time, but 2015 would be his last full season in the NFL in which he threw 16 touchdown passes and four interceptions in 12 games for the San Francisco 49ers. That because in his third preseason game of the 2016 season, Colin was noticed sitting down during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" vs. standing. During a post-game interview, Colin said he wasn’t going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color and that it would be selfish of him to do otherwise as this is bigger than football. To put it blunt, what Colin was really saying was the police were killing black people and walking away free of charge and without any consequences.
Shortly afterwards, Colin labeled anti-cop and anti-military. A league executive called Colin a “traitor” and he received countless death threats. So what did he do, He donated $25,000 to the Mothers Against Police Brutality organization that was started by Collette Flanagan, whose son was killed by police brutality.
Colin was soon out of a job, not because he lacked the skills to play quarter back, not because he was asking for enormous amount of money in salary. He was out of an NFL job because NFL team owners saw him as financial liability and a distraction for kneeling for social justice.
So what did Nike do, they former San Francisco 49ers quarterback as the main testimonial of its “Just Do It” 30th-anniversary campaign. Nike featured Colin on billboards, television commercials and online ads. Nike also created an apparel line for Kaepernick and contribute to his Know Your Rights charity.
“Nike has a long history of standing against bigotry, hatred and inequality in all forms,” a Nike said in a statement about the ad. “We hope that by sharing this film we can serve as a catalyst to inspire action against a deep issue in our society and encourage people to help shape a better future.”
Nike released an ad Friday night imploring viewers not to “pretend there’s not a problem in America” while protests occurred in cities nationwide following the death in Minnesota of George Floyd after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody.
The simple video shared on Twitter contains lettering that begins, “For Once, Don’t Do It... Don’t pretend there’s not a problem in America... Don’t turn your back on racism.” It had more than 35,000 retweets and two million views as of Saturday morning.
A lot of companies in this country do a lot of talking, but very little action to back up that talk. Nike is one of the few companies out there that talk, then, "Just Do It."
This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn't financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.
