Search the Community

However he is rendered ineffective in 2018. The original intent of his actions have been buried and everyone has co-opted his message. 45 has used it to fire up his racist and xenophobic base by perverting Colin's message on Twitter. Nike is now exploiting the optics to increase shareholder wealth All the while nothing in the Black community has changed -- other than for the worse. My sentiments as well. I also agree with Cynique that Colin is being elevated by others seeking to capitalize off of him by either villifying him or using his image to make money. I think some are trying to make a "Black Jesus" sacrificial figure out of him which may infact do even MORE damage because it will encourage our many of young men to lay down and just play VICTIM hoping someone will feel sorry for you and give you a break....instead of standing up and actually FIGHTING against injustice or establishing your own industry. Instead of organizing and buying your own team or better yet your own league...... "Don't choo pay dem folks no neva-mind! Just keep own doin' whachoo doin' boy and somewheah....somehaah.....some GOOD white folk go feel sorry fo' ya and come 'long and SAVE ya!"

What is the trade-off? it's not like you're spending your money and not getting something in return. Are you ever a victim of the ploys you warn others about? Or do you just do without, satisfied with generic products? BTW, FaceBook is on fire with people saying what you're saying about the NIKE Kaepernick deal. So users are not that naive. A lot of blacks say whatever the case, they are still going to patronize NIKE in support of Kaepernick. And, of course, there are millions from the MAGA crowd who will boycott this company, and there are pictures all over the internet of these disgruntled fans burning their NIKE shoes. I won't be buying any NIKEs and i am a supporter of this campaign.

@Delano this whole conversation is about the impact of Colin's kneeling -- of course it had an impact?! That is a silly question coming from out of left field. I was talking "some months ago" ago, in a completely different conversation, about his impact on police killings of unarmed Black people. Has Colin's action lead to a reduction in the incidences or new legislation to punish perpetrators? As a matter of fact, why don't YOU tell us what as changed as a result. But you won't because you have developed an irritating habit of not answering direct questions. @Mel Hopkins I just watched this video. Nike has brilliantly taken over Colin's message. I guess it is now about becoming a great athlete despite adversity. I'm sure Nike will sell a lot of over priced product as a result. Never forget -- that is their goal. NIke is selling hype and fantasy no one will become a Serena or Lebron. Commercials like this is one of the reasons so many Black boys invest way too much time trying to become a professional athletes rather than learning skills (like reading and writing) that would be more marketable and rewarding in the long run. Obviously I'm not moved by Nike's marketing hype. I appreciate I'm in the minority, but that is fine with me.

Troy was Colin position ineffectual. You said he accomplished nothing some months ago. Do you still feel the same.

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2018%2F09%2F05%2Fcolin-kaepernick-nike-ad-black-police%2F&h=AT0AFgMR7bjhpMWRrD-3BZU07c9_kOUNww9ETBbEP0We5YGATxnjtUAS-orQWL9gm3lQDF-lE82QVeeq7SfO99iS9cTnxcDaDQuU3DD8NzL4z9zicLh80nytIGlUIsJFMATKd4xZJA8Wj7um5useghAhRPmGruN9RBs1SGDamiLlLY_qPzy2r1-96nyyTEcuIwAJ4wnEA-9IsPykoJm3mCvz3C8r9tkuUj5Ejj9TVV7qxiEYXTSkJPV_xgiT7n426W9nOA405SIqAp_TLzdqivohfa1F7RqdfbZb5np8dDdZBXYr_RjOlUfLfL9ty40SWxOF8Cfjlx8XHDmy4RaFUjLLKgM4lz43wBF6rvjvdifjOCeqcmvkF8ZHY8OuVSJw2yVaBIW29bJP33s7tCVDVzmNLuRDqL7v5u3uR90RtbbEs0gx0jb1m-ABNC70hLLfRFe__oMlm5pmyzx50LSE1fTalXEHyURSH_1hEdzTgw

@Troy yes, I've spent hundreds of dollars on specially made orthotics and they didn't work, more over, they actually made my feet much worse. It took me years of trial and error to finally stumble across these particular pair of NIKE Running shoes and the last pair wore out about 2 years ago, but I just didn't have the money to replace them but last week, after complaining relentlessly to my family for help, I was finally able to buy them. I had to call all over to find them as they are hard to find in stock, believe it or not. They don't seem to ever be on sale. I tell my family that what I really need to do is to get my membership back at a community pool or something because that would really help more. But, my health is not good, so I feel pressed to do something now. It is so sad about how just because of NAME BRANDS that companies like NIKE and more, have blood on their hands. I have to say, I agree with you on how you feel though. But, I angry too, about being ripped off in the medical field as well. I wish I could find a better way. But as for Colin Kapernick, I know he going to be exploited, however, what he did, IMO was so amazing. He's one in a million, and then some. He is so young too. In the back of my mind, I am hoping that NIKE or someone behind this company chose to do this for the right reasons. @Cynique absolutely! ... car rims.... keep going.... LOL

Kaepernick is a reflection of our time. I truly have nothing against the man. I believe his heart is pure and his intentions just. However he is rendered ineffective in 2018. The original intent of his actions have been buried and everyone has co-opted his message. 45 has used it to fire up his racist and xenophobic base by perverting Colin's message on Twitter. Nike is now exploiting the optics to increase shareholder wealth All the while nothing in the Black community has changed -- other than for the worse. @Cynique have you ever lived in a community where people had the shoes stolen off their feet? Does this seems like alien behavior to you? I ask because of your statement. Which struck me: This video is in NYC in May of this year. There are MANY videos like this one. The victim in this video sneakers were apparently worth $2,000, a pair of Air Jordans. Give today's technology the shoes probably cost less to make than the $100 pair of shores a generation ago. These are just the incidences video tapes most of these crimes go unreported. WHile this young man was not murdered for his sneakers, I assure you people are mirdered each year over a pair of Nikes. I wonder if more people are killed over a pair of Nikes than are unjustifiably killed by Police each year. Again, the value and price of these shoes have NOTHING to do with their cost. The "value" of these sneakers has been manufactured, out of thin air by Nike. The resulting crimes are the result. Today Nike is using Colin to improve the effectiveness of their marketing machine. We are a long way from what ever the heck Colin was kneel about. Just Think.

Sacrifice is relative. Anything you give up what robs you of what has meaning in your life is a sacrifice. Kaepernick is being elevated, not by his own design but by others seeking to villanize, idolize or capitalize off him. i think his intentions are good , which is why i continue to give him credit. He has made yet another impact thanks to NIKE. He is using them as much as they are using him. As for NIKE, just as many affluent people buy them as those who can't afford them; even more. And they come in all price ranges. Once again, you and i clash over ordinary people seeking things that make them happy instead of being satisfied with drudgery, just to make a point. i don't think anybody is being killed for their shoes anymore. Nowadays most kids from all walks of life are more focused on video games and iPhones and social media.

LOL! @Troy NIkes are too expensive for me, but before I even knew that they supported Colin, I just recently broke down and scratched my pennies to buy a pair that I need because of my problematic feet. They happened to make a pair that I can use without causing me more damage due to a job injury. And, I don't think this will make up for Colin's financial loss either. From what I understand, he was really good at his sport, so I know he made a sacrifice. I hope his parents will be proud of him though, I believe it is tough on them too. There are already some angry people though, mad at Nike.

Good for Colin. It does not sound like it will make up for the loss revenue from his football contract but it is far more than any of us will make. Leave up to Nike to slickly capitalize on the "moment." Imagine what it would be like if NIKE were around in the 60's and co-opted the images of the civil rights leadership during the civil right movement just to sell grotesquely over priced footwear targeting people who can ill afford the buy the stuff... "Sacrificing everything" -- gimme a freaking break! We don't even know what sacrifice means today; Brother and Sisters actually risked their lives fighting injustice little more than a generation ago. We won't even get off social media for 5 minutes.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/03/news/companies/cfxolin-kaepernick-nike-just-do-it/

My guy Colin Kaepernick has just secured a multi million dollar shoe deal as Nike makes him the face of 'Just Do It' 30th anniversary campaign. .

@Cynique, with all that you know about Facebook why would you think you are getting a clear and accurate vision of what the majority of other people think? Omarosa has a new BFF? No, I'm not aware of this, Who is it? Oprah, Obama, Colin Kapernick, Viola Davis, Beyonce, Cornel West? Don't make me go searching for it; just tell me

So basically you decide what or whose platform supports black people. by the way, most media outlets have stated they will no longer show the anthem portion of NFL games - most recently ESPN. So I guess, Colin Kaepernick has made an impact - because no more jingoism in televised sports. Any way, I gues you decide who has impacted someone's life in a positive way - and be damn the black men who ARE visible doing that damn thing ... LeBron James. And then you wonder why no one is interested in rank-in-file black men or reading about them ... they have no voice. Also since, you say I wouldn't understand because I'm not a black man - I guess we'll no longer hear from you about black women, right?

I use the terms Black and white as we understand them here in the US, but I also recognize that there is no scientific basis for the designations. I'm sure there are a number of Black folks who ascribe to Peterson's worldview. Indeed, someone described him as part of the "Coon Squad," a group of folks including Omarosa who take positions that serve white folks, usually at the expense of Black folks. (Generally I believe these people are mostly interested in serving themselves, but that is another story). To answer you last question: what I find is that we in the Black community, with rare exception, do not determine who is visible. Anyone who has any level of visibility that benefits Black folks is shut down. Whether it is Malcolm X, Colin Kaepernick, or any number of Black men who try to build a platform to support Black people. The Black men who are visible are there was because white folks put them in the position. Typically it is because they are the likes of Peterson or provide some form of entertainment. @Mel Hopkins, please don't give me the names of entertainers to counter my point or some obscure business leader who the general public never heard of because they don't impact anyone's life in a positive way. I used literature as an example, because the books we produce are excellent proxy for what the culture deems to be important. Again ours is a culture that marginalizes Black men -- middle aged Black men in particular. These are the men who should be having their greatest impact on the culture, but do not. I'm not even sure why the is a topic for debate... Again, if you want to believe Black middle aged men are truly visible go ahead, but I suspect now that this might be a situation that you really can't understand, because you are not a Black man. Camille Yarbrough understands:

LOL! Blasphemy indeed. I'll respond in the other thread. Colin Powell is retired. Tavis was erased as part of the #metoo movement. Obama nullified West....

@Troy, If you want to pick apart each industry and look at the representation then it would look like there are none but that's not what you wrote. You wrote black middle age men are invisible and that's false. It doesn't matter if you don't like who is representing black middle age men - the fact remains black middle age men are NOT invisible. Michael Eric Dyson,Phd, Reverend Al Sharpton, Tavis Smiley, Michael Steele, Former President Barack Obama, Ret General Colin Powell, Eric Holder, Senator Corey Booker....Kenneth Cheneault, Kenneth Frazier, Robert Johson, Ben Carson, MD, Cornel West, And that's just off the top of my head

Well @Pioneer1 I admit my position is changing on this issue. I always viewed pro athletes as entertainers, you know people you provide amusement for others -- they have no agency besides what their owners provide. Colin exhibited a minor form of protest and he was summarily executed -- obviously the NFL colluded against him and was never punished, while Collins lost his livelihood. Seemingly there was nothing anyone could do about it. Today, it appears others, clearly risking their own careers given Colin's example, are "standing up," for themselves and Colin -- invoking their right to engage in a symbolic protest, however minor -- against the will of 45, the NFL owners, and many of the fans. This is can be a powerful thing. If this protest continues and builds momentum, the NFL and the general public, will have no choice but to yield to the protests -- they can't fire everybody. At some point the media will have to consider why they are kneeling -- forcing the public to reconcile the outrage decent people feel about police killing black people with reckless abandon. Our million-dollar-slaves will will gain some power and control in their role -- who knows where else that will lead. I honestly don't think the protest will grow to a point when it comes to a head, but you can always hope.

You men on this site just don't get it! You're so busy trying to discredit another brotha, that you can't wrap your mind around the fact that his taking a knee has scored a moral victory because it is still being discussed, debated, challenged, and prolonged. It exposes and lays bare the hypocrisy of what the American flag is supposed to stand for. It embarrasses white patriots, it galls the twitter-happy fool occupying the white house, it makes franchise owners uneasy, it makes black athletes soul-search, it is a thorn in the side of white law enforcement. But, noooo, you naysayers stand around criticizing Colin Kaepernick when his only crime is that he is in the same category as all the other back men who have failed to make equal justice a reality is this country that doesn't give a damn about them.

Chevdove I think there is some kind of movement going on and certain Black people and others too are being targeted. It's funny you said this, because I said the same thing in another thread just a few minutes ago about AfroAmericans being "targetted". https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/5319-the-absurdity-of-the-truth/ It's not the problem of racism and police brutality that I disagree with Colin over. We both agree that it's a major problem that needs to be solved. It's the SOLUTION (or lack of one coming from him) that I take issue with. First of all, he and many others are wasting too much precious time trying to "call attention" to a problem that most people already knows exist. Both the victims AND the perpetrators know that racism and police brutality exist and have for decades if not centuries...so who's attention is he trying to call? Secondly, whatever type of problem he's seeing down the line or major issue he has privy too that most of us aren't aware of......how is his kneeling on the field going to solve it? Again, his behavior just causes more confusion and leads our people in the wrong direction. We need REAL leadership who will give us a REAL gameplan as to how to solve the problems we face and get positive results.....not window dressing and show boating just to bring attention to a problem everyone already knows exists.

@Pioneer1 Maybe that is the big question that Colin has responded to in his actions. Maybe he can see a bigger picture. I'm not sure either, but something strange is going on in America. I think there is some kind of movement going on and certain Black people and others too are being targeted. In the long run, maybe Colin sees where the NFL may tie into something. There are a lot of Black men in this sport and well, maybe they may feel exploited too, as well paid pawns, while other Black men are being killed by police. The White House deals with economical issues and so, what about all of that money being passed around in the sports world? Just recently Will Smith starred in a film about how football players are being exploited and this too, seems like it was all a part of some movement from higher levels than just the movie making industry. This has become a legal issue. All of these cases about CTI or some kind of brain damage being downplayed are now a legal issue and a money issue and more. This system is crumbling and I think lawmakers are scrambling to try and make their fall a little easier at the expense of others. The NFL players maybe sensing something on these underlying levels and are connecting the dots, so to speak. Yes, I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but that is what I am thinking about. Right now, I just have a lot of questions, but they are loaded questions though. Something strange is going on in the world today, and not just in America.

@Pioneer1 We might not agree with Colin's tactics or lack of a strategy, but clearly we agree with the spirit of what he was trying to accomplish and we should support him. But again we won't because collectively (save the ministers in the video), we refuse to stand up for ourselves. The boycott now would be to punish the NFL, in a way they understand, financially, for firing Colin. @Chevdove, it probably is too early for us to boycott the NFL. We are simply not ready.

Someone forwarded this to me today on Facebook with the instructions to "forward this every Black person you know." I have to admit I was a little excited because i thought now, finally, some Black leaders are getting together to take substantive action against the NFL since Colin Kaepernick has been neutralized. I dug a bit deeper into this effort and see that he video was created LAST YEAR! My hopes were dashed because obviously this effort had less than zero impact. Why didn't this effort go viral on the Web? The video has been posted several times on youtube. The one with the most views (that I could find) is shared below. It got less than 83K views. This is a video created by a bunch of ministers with presumably supportive congregations why am I just now learning about this?!. They even have a hashtag #blackout. The answer is obvious we don't control social media. We also do not own any platforms with meaningful reach that would promote this effort and that we also support. As a result after NFL "killed" Kaepernick their revenues are higher than ever... But the most important reason for the failure of this effort is that we, as a people, are too WEAK to boycott the NFL. We won't boycott social media we won't boycott Amazon, we are pathetically support those who have demonstrated, time and time again, that they dont give s hit about us. We deserve everything we get. It is not too late for the 2018/19 season.

@harry brown, Oprah is trying to maximize revenue. If putting on football players like Kaepernick and other advances her goal of making money she'll do it. You can't become a billionaire trying to do what is "right" -- especially if it is for Black people.

Last. Sunday. Scrolling. To. See. What. Was. On,Oprah. Winfrey. Was. Interviewing. That. Idiot. Football. Player,Tom. Brady. Did. Not. Waste. My. Time. Watching. . Do. She .Plan,To,Interview. Colin. Kaepernick ,Richard. Sherman,Other,Football. Players. To. Ask. Them. Why. They. ,Were. Protesting?If. Someone. Watched. OPRAH. Interviewing,That. Idiot. Tom. Brady,Did. OPRAH. Ask. Him,Why,Do. You. Like. Trump,Do. You. Support. Trump. ,Supporting ,Neo Nazi ,,.,Does. He. Support. Neo-Nazi. Waving. U. S. Flag. And. Nazi. Flags,As. Football. Players,Hated. , By. White. People. For. Protesting. Racism. In,This. Country.. ...Have. Heard. OPRAH. Puts. On. Stupid. Preachers,Like. T.D._Jakes ,John. Gray. Whatever. His. Name. Is.. Will. She put ,On,,,Black. Hebrews,Nation. Of. Islam?. Making. White. Viewers ,Comfortable.......