I find it very interesting that the same people who are angry at Nike for their Kaepernick campaign because of his protest are then proceeding to burn all of their Nike products...in an act of protest. How are you going to be upset for someone exercising their right, but then go and expect people to see your side when you do the same?
Now I understand that people aren't going to easily agree on one thing. I'm not going to pretend like this can be fixed overnight either, but people have to start listening to each other.
If we were to start from the perspective of those who are angry at Nike and angry at Kaepernick, we would see that the root of their anger comes from Kaepernick's kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem at NFL games. I can't say that everyone has the same thoughts on this, but many of the people who I've seen that have spoken out against Kaepernick are all angry because they believe that he, along with other NFL players who have joined in, are disrespecting the American flag and the United States.
Kaepernick is protesting police brutality.
Not the flag.
Not the National Anthem.
Police brutality.
If we were to continue to the perspective of Kaepernick, we would see this. His first protest was when he sat during the game on August 14th, but it didn't garner media attention until the game on August 26th. On September 1st, Kaepernick took a knee alongside Eric Reid, instead of staying seated during the National Anthem. Reid wrote in an NY Times Opinion article that he and Kaepernick were protesting because of the injustices they had seen as well as how they came to the decision to kneel instead of sit after talking with Nate Boyer who was a retired Green Beret and also a former NFL player.
They came to this conclusion because they felt it was more respectful.
However, people still continue to misinterpret it.
Kaepernick's protest is just one example of a misunderstood protest.
If only we all took the time to sit and actually go through what's going on instead of jumping quickly to react, we would be able to start having a discussion and work toward fixing the issues that people face each and every day.
