Black Bodies Possessed: Colin Kaepernick, Nike, and the Desire for Ownership of Black Bodies
On Tuesday, Nike released a controversial ad in support of Colin Kaepernick, a football player whose protest against racism ended his career. After taking a knee in 2016 during the National Anthem, to protest police brutality against unarmed African Americans, Kaepernick was blackballed by the NFL. The ad features a solemn looking Kaepernick, and says “believe in something. even if it means sacrificing everything. just do it.” The image of Kapernick, photographed in black and white, is not photoshopped, and shows him with bushy eyebrows and highlights every pore and imperfection on his face. It’s gritty. The message is revolutionary. A multibillion dollar company taking a political stand — a stand against the president, a stand against the NFL (an organization who has a lucrative deal with Nike), a stand against enraged citizens who might be stockholders or avid consumers — is unheard of. I’ll take it further and say Nike is taking a stand alongside Black America, becoming an ally, a move that will surely enrage any bigot worth their salt.
Whether strategic or sincere, Nike has been taking a stand over the past week or so, even before the Kaepernick ad. After Serena William’s catsuit was banned from the French Open (almost a year in advance), the corporation released an ad in support of Williams saying “you can take the superhero out of her costume, but you can never take away her superpowers.”
Today Donald Trump tweeted, “Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts,” and their stock dropped by 3.2 percent. Angry White Americans, the ones who support Trump, and believe America belongs to them, protested by burning, or otherwise destroying, their Nike merchandise. So why are they so upset?
The claim is that Kaepernick, and other kneelers, are somehow disrespecting the country, the flag, and U.S. servicemen and women. To the people who feel this way, I say — No, you disrespect the flag when you stand on the wrong side of history, when you advocate taking away an American citizen’s right to peacefully protest, when you take away a man’s living and his dream (to play football), when you support bigotry and promote violence, and when you respond with vitriol when things aren’t going your way.
Honestly, however, that’s just an excuse. These people are burning their Nike merchandise out of spite and, I will say it, hatred. This American Lynch mob, and yes I chose those words purposely, believes Nike is taking a stand against them, and, in their minds, this is not supposed to happen. Their hatred and anger increase as the face of America changes — hence the election of Trump. Hence the rise in hate crimes. They were never mad at Kaepernick for disrepecting the flag. They were mad that he, a Black man, exercised his free will and his right as an American citizen, to control his own body, his own mind, and stand up for his beliefs.
African American athletes and celebrities (and in a sense, African Americans, in general), are only beloved when we entertain, when we do what’s told, when we stay in our places. The same thing happened to Lebron James when he decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers. The American lynch mob gathered and collectively burned anything with his name or face on it. The sentiment is echoed when people, like Laura Ingraham, make the statement that athletes (in this case, Lebron James) should “shut up and dribble.” When we show agency, when we express our thoughts, when we use our voices, we are met with disdain and outright hostility.
Burning the American flag is a crime, but kneeling for the national anthem is not. In fact, Kapernick chose to kneel because he wanted to remain respectful of the anthem, servicemen and women, and the country. This vitriol towards Kaepernick, towards Nike, is because Kaepernick is Black. The French Open instated a dress code, and called out Serena Williams by name, because she’s Black. This isn’t microagression. It’s aggression.
The NFl, who wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for young African American men, blackballed Kaepernick because he used his voice. Don’t be fooled — it is not about patriotism, viewership, sponsorship, or keeping politics off the gridiron. It’s about suppressing the voices of countless African Americans who stand with Kaepernick — and asserting ownership over one African American man’s body.
The national anthem is a song about the American flag. The flag is a symbol, not for America, but for American values — including freedom, liberty, and justice. Those who don’t stand with Kaepernick are disrespecting the flag; he is not.
