‘ Concerned Citizen Over Nike Sy mbolism ’ B efore I begin griping too much , I must give a humble d isclaimer : n o one should give a he ll what I have to say – and why should they? I ’ m nothing more than a c oncern ed citizen mind ing his own business. I mean, I didn ’ t thro w a stink over the whole Kaepernick - k neeling thing wh en it happened I ’ m all about 1st Ame n dment righ t s ! I ’ m all about respecting someone for putting their ca reer on the line to give the finger to ‘ The M an ’ I simply marked - up Colin ’ s flag - disrespect in ’ as collateral da mage on behalf of a noble cause. T he n my m ood began to shift when Nike came ou t with t heir Kaepernick - commercial O ne - hundred - million - dollar - w hopper of free medi a that commer cial earne d Nike ! The Kaepernick - Nik e partnership could n ’ t resist the urge to bank on Colin ’ s new 1 st Amendment fame Goo d for Coli n , I though t G etting his pay - day after the NFL gave hi m a shitty hand And w hen he sued th e NFL and won a ‘ heresay ’ of 60 - 8 0 million dollars ( in addition to the 35 million dollars he earned during his tenure as 4 9 er s quarter back ), I thought, man, Colin must be a happy go - lucky guy now! As for Nike , I thought, they must ’ ve decided d ivisive time s demand ed d r astic measure s. Good for Nike , I thought, standing up for Colin ’ s 1 st A mendmen t rights. T hen Nike had to t ake it two step s too far .. Two things crossed m y mind when I first heard Nike decided to burn the ir fla g - shoes. F irst, I couldn ’ t understand what Betsy Ross ever d id to offend Colin ? Secondly, what kind of mes sage was Nike se nding to the general p ublic ? For whatever reaso n, I felt , personally, demoraliz ed. I felt Colin was taking his ang er out over being ousted from the NFL on the same publ ic he was trying to rally behind him on ly a ye ar earlier. I fe lt personally affronted that Colin felt lesser of me if I c hose to wear th e flag of my country. But Nike , to my astonishment, agreed with Colin ’ s astute assessment that the shoes were offensive . What pushovers Nike must be , I though t I forgot about the whole or deal thinking it was ov er , and then this happened ... ‘ The Statu e, created by the artist who painted Barack Obama ’ s official portra i t, feature a Black man with dreads, we aring a hoo die and Nikes on horseback. ’ – Huffington Post, by David Mo ye Fine a rtist Kehind e Wiley ’ s ‘ Rumor s of War ’ statue had a momentous debut in Time s Square. The statue i mmediately became i conic nationwide possessing a powerful cultural resonance The statue now call s Richmond , Virginia, home . It sit s along side Arthur Ashe Blvd which run s perpendicular to Monu ment Avenue where Confederates Civil War leaders are sculpted on horseback I liked it when Kehin de testif ie d, during a CB S inter view , that he is not an ad vocate of th e removal of the Confederate s tatues, but a propo nent for more statues that are cultural ly inclusiv e and more expansive on America ’ s complex historical narrative. A fter a quick google search you can see the Media simply ate it up. But there was one thing I couldn ’ t get over . It was the brand Kehind e had put on the shoes. Nike Was he reall y just throwing one of the biggest corporations a bone ? Or was Kehind e unkno wingly r ewarding Nike for its ’ successful marketing campaign s that primarily focus on urban youth ? The re was one th in g I kn ew for a fact : no one was talking about how much free media Nike had earned from Kehinde ’ s stat ue s like they did after the Ka epernick - commercial. Y et, it was clear to me, Nike was getting a lot of free me dia , not to mention being forever iconized on a Museum ’ s f ront doorstep Some billboard , I thought. But t hings didn ’ t add up for me H o w did Nike evolve from a brand that sim ply supported super athletes into a b rand that st o od up for b lack injusti ce s? But then it hit me : d id Kehind e, like Colin , ha ve a predetermined com mercial relatio nsh ip with Nike ? I didn ’ t have to look far to discover enough evidence to raise a few eyebrows. On news.artnet.com it clearly states that Kehinde , through his represen t ation at t he Creative Exchan ge Agency, accept s commercial pa tronage from companies like Nike . Although , in the arti cle , nowhere does it say , explicitly, that Nik e and Ke hinde have worked t ogether ; but, still, the inference can be made after Nike is mentioned - in the same article that Kehi nde is in - 11 time s Is Kehind e not telling us about a kick - back from Nike for his ‘ Rumors of War ’ stat ue . O r is this just one big coincidence? So what – r ight ? Who cares i f Nike pa y s handsomely pays to wedge itse lf within America ’ s most divi sive debates? N one of my business , right? But - you know what - I do car e. And here ’ s why. I don ’ t care when Nike profits from athlete endorsem ents ; I actually encourage it , because successful a thlete role - models is an exemplary example of freedom in a free nation. We ’ ve come a long from Gladiators – ya kno w? But it doesn ’ t sit well with me, or should it with you - in my humb le opi n ion – that Nike is profiting in a sub versi ve and s ystem atic scheme that exploit s divisive public debates Truthfu l ly, I wouldn ’ t care so much if Nike wasn ’ t t wo - faced. A quick search shows that Ni ke ’ s labor issues are still not behind the m. As a n obje ctive observe r, it seems , to me, th at Nike want s to li v e in two realities. In the rosier and profitable first - w orl d re al ity they f ight for the little guy , while , simultaneously , they tak e a dvantage of th at same little guy in se cond wor ld economies where they manufacture. Does any one feel th e same way that I do ? T hat Nike ’ s newfound glory as an America n civil righ ts defen der is nothing more than a bad PR - smoke screen to obscure the not - so - rosy fact s abroad? Regardless of the intentions of the Ath letes and the Artist s that Nike endorses/ patron s , free citize ns must reserve the right to ask serious questions before accepting any marketing campaign , or iconic piece of art , simply on face value alone. Free citizens reserve the right to inqu i re wheth er there is an emb edded corpo rate agenda involved . E specially when th at agenda is offensive to man y American ’ s values Your s Truly , A Concerned Citizen