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Nike Pays Kaepernick to Push Peddle False, Harmful Narrative of Police Brutality
Townhall ^ | 09/13/2018 | Larry Elder

Posted on 09/13/2018 9:58:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The NFL's Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who started the phenomenon of NFL players kneeling during the playing of the national anthem, has finally signed a deal. But not to play football.

No NFL team has offered him a contract since he parted ways with the San Francisco 49ers. His new deal is with Nike, which plans to use him for the 30th anniversary of its "Just Do It" campaign. The Nike ad, over an image of Kaepernick, reads: "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything."

If Nike truly believed one must "believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything," why hasn't the socially conscious company dumped longtime client Tiger Woods? He not only pointedly refuses to condemn President Donald Trump but also recently said: "He's the President of the United States. You have to respect the office. No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office."

How long has Nike been paying Kaepernick for his "activism"? Some have likened him to Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon who refused to move to the back of the bus, helping spark the modern civil rights movement. Oh, please. Ms. Parks didn't get a shoe deal, and she got arrested for the act of defiance. How has Kaepernick "sacrificed everything"? His NFL career was in decline at the time of his protest. His contract was not likely going to be renewed, even without the controversy that now surrounds him. More important, the NFL, unlike the NBA, does not require its players to stand during the national anthem. So the already rich Kaepernick neither risked losing money nor broke any rule by kneeling.

Remember, the protest began as a criticism of the alleged widespread institutional racism by cops. Kaepernick said, "There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." Actually, the data say otherwise. The Washington Post Fatal Force database reports that 19 unarmed blacks were killed by the police in 2016. Almost 8,000 blacks were homicide victims in 2016, and most died at the hands of another black. Unarmed does not mean not dangerous. Ferguson's Michael Brown was unarmed, but his DNA was found on the police officer's gun, indicating that Brown was trying to grab the gun.

Two studies in recent years found that police are more reluctant and more hesitant to use deadly force against a black suspect than a white suspect. Harvard's Roland Fryer, a black economist and the author of one of the studies, said, "It is the most surprising result of my career."

The notion that the police engage in systemic racial profiling is not just wrong -- it gets people killed. Because of fears of false allegations of police misconduct, cops in Chicago, according the Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have put themselves in a "fetal" position and do not engage in proactive policing. Why fight crime aggressively if it increases interaction with suspects and therefore increases the chance of a false charge of racism against an officer?

In Baltimore in 2015, an unarmed black man named Freddie Gray died in a police van while being transported to jail. Six officers, including three blacks, were indicted, with charges ranging from second-degree murder for one, to involuntary manslaughter and assault for the others. At the time of Gray's death, the police department was led by a black man. The second in command was also black. The mayor was black. The majority of the Baltimore City Council was black, as was the state attorney who brought the charges. At the time, the U.S. attorney general was black, as was the President of the United States. Three of the cases were tried before a black judge without a jury. The judge found the officers not guilty. And still protestors cried "institutional racism," even though blacks in Baltimore are running the institution.

Trump made the NFL's kneeling protestors a deal that one would have thought could not be refused: "I am gonna ask all of those people to recommend to me ... people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system ... and I'm gonna take a look at those applications. And if I find and my committee finds that they were unfairly treated, then we will pardon them, or at least let them out. ... If the players, if the athletes have friends of theirs or people that they know about that have been unfairly treated by the system, let me know."

Where are the names?

Given that the protestors claim there is "structural and systemic racism" and the government runs a "school-to-prison pipeline," they surely can generate an exhaustive list of names. If whites were to spend as much time thinking about how to oppress blacks as Kaepernick thinks they do, they would never have enough time to oppress blacks.

As for Nike, it believes in pursuing its fiduciary obligation -- to make profits. It sees no conflict between representing a Woods who refuses to criticize Trump and a Kaepernick who does. If pushing a false narrative of "institutional systemic and structural racism" sells shoes, #justdoit.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: kaepernick; nike; policebrutality

1 posted on 09/13/2018 9:58:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Nike is eventually going to lose money over this venture with the kneeler.


2 posted on 09/13/2018 10:11:48 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: SeekAndFind

Nike believes in Corporate profits and Kaepernick believes in a personal paycheck. I don’t think these two will work together long. Kinda like Kaepernick’s football career.


3 posted on 09/13/2018 10:12:58 AM PDT by BBQToadRibs
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To: SeekAndFind
The most idiotic aspect of the Kapernick caper is that it actually has a terribly negative effect on law abiding Blacks in inner city neighborhoods. It discourages aggressive Police actions to protect those neighborhoods. Just who, besides the Police, suffers from this insane crusade?!

Did anyone else note that the protestors recently targeted the convenience store in Ferguson, which Michael Brown robbed on his way to the fatal confrontation with law enforcement?! Just who suffers, besides the store owner, if it is forced out of that neighborhood?!

Is Nike delusional or just cowed by the PC crowd!

4 posted on 09/13/2018 10:15:27 AM PDT by Ohioan
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To: SeekAndFind
He also endorsed Tranny weiner ?  photo capMia.png
5 posted on 09/13/2018 10:31:33 AM PDT by Para-Ord.45 (Americans, happy in tutelage by the reflection that they have chosen their own dictators.)
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To: BBQToadRibs

This quote pegs it. “In Baltimore in 2015, an unarmed black man named Freddie Gray died in a police van while being transported to jail. Six officers, including three blacks, were indicted, with charges ranging from second-degree murder for one, to involuntary manslaughter and assault for the others. At the time of Gray’s death, the police department was led by a black man. The second in command was also black. The mayor was black. The majority of the Baltimore City Council was black, as was the state attorney who brought the charges. At the time, the U.S. attorney general was black, as was the President of the United States. Three of the cases were tried before a black judge without a jury. The judge found the officers not guilty. And still protestors cried “institutional racism,” even though blacks in Baltimore are running the institution.”


6 posted on 09/13/2018 10:53:50 AM PDT by Uncle Lonny
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To: Ohioan
Is Nike delusional or just cowed by the PC crowd

I have to visit the Portland area frequently, typically staying downtown but driving right past Nike headquarters in Beaverton almost every trip. What I notice from the time I arrive until the blessed time my plane pushes back for the flight home is the smug liberalism left-wing-ism that infects every aspect of that sad metropolis.

Perhaps it's just that I take note of any news from Portland out of concern for my own safety (on an upcoming trip), but it seems like these completely fake "hands up don't shoot" and "President Trump's election was illegitimate" type protests are the most violent in Portland, regularly including closed down streets, broken windows, overturned and burned cars, etc. Driving anywhere downtown reveals hundreds of "homeless" living in tent cities and occupying city parks. A visit to Fred Mayer (a regional department store) includes aggressive "homeless" panhandlers permanently camped out on the premises. A store employee told me they are powerless to do anything about it.

What amazes me is that the general populace accepts what any normal human being would regard as a complete breakdown of civility and in fact thinks it somehow demonstrates just how "caring" Portlanders are. Nike management appears to reflect that local mindset.
7 posted on 09/13/2018 11:07:47 AM PDT by JayNorth (Apparently Verizon Wireless is taking customer service lessons from United Airlines.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Nike also believes in near slave labor to make their products. No problems there.......


8 posted on 09/13/2018 12:06:28 PM PDT by Midwesterner53
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To: Salvation

Shouldn’t be too long until he shows up as an MSNBC show host.


9 posted on 09/13/2018 12:16:58 PM PDT by DPMD
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To: JayNorth
What you describe is stupidity compounded in a way that demonstrates one of the hypotheses at my Conservative Resource Center--i.e. that the Left is largely compulsion driven. That the city you describe misses essential reality, consider Jefferson's comments on how Virginia in the 1780s handled the "safety-net"--and contrast with modern faux compassion.

Jefferson On Welfare.

Is there any conceivable rational argument for the Portland approach, over that of the Founding Fathers? Any!!

10 posted on 09/13/2018 12:47:08 PM PDT by Ohioan
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To: SeekAndFind

Nike is appealing to the 15-30 market and will probably have success with this approach.


11 posted on 09/13/2018 12:50:04 PM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: SeekAndFind
Local "friend" stated "no proof Kap is a Muslim... stop it, you're all making us look bad"...

I made this for him.


12 posted on 09/17/2018 8:17:54 AM PDT by SparkyBass
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