Because of my 20+ years of battling Nike’s sweatshop abuses, I’ve been getting phone calls and texts about Nike’s latest move to feature Colin Kaepernick in their reboot of the “Just Do It” campaign.
I have supported Colin’s brave acts of civil disobedience as well as the #BlackLivesMatter movement from the start and will continue to do so. Black men are still disproportionately the victims of brutal police brutality and this must stop. (FYI, this is why Colin is kneeling, to bring attention to that fact, despite what Fox News may have told you. Oh, and his kneeling has nothing to do with “the troops.”)
I also have spent a good portion of my adult life raising awareness about Nike’s exploitative labor practices and I know what it is like to take a difficult stand of conscience. The irony of the Nike ad featuring Colin using the line, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” is not lost on me.
I was forced from my coaching job at St. John’s University with the NCAA Division I National Champion Red Storm Men’s Soccer program when I refused to take part in a $3.5M endorsement deal with Nike. I took this stand because Nike was (and still is) paying poverty wages and physically, verbally, and sexually abusing workers in their sweatshops around the world.
That stand made big news as I was, and still am, the only athlete in the world to publicly refuse to take part in a Nike endorsement deal because of their sweatshop abuses. I took my passion and my commitment to labor rights to another level in July 2000 when I moved to Indonesia. There, in solidarity with Nike workers, I lived in a slum on the outskirts of Jakarta, attempting to survive on the Nike workers wage at the time — $1.25 a day. I lost 25lbs in a month and heard the heart-wrenching stories of the human beings whose dignity is ground down as they grind out millions of pairs of Nikes a month. I documented my experiences in the award-winning short film “Behind the Swoosh.”
Given the above, I am deeply disappointed that Nike is attempting to co-opt Colin’s actions in order to sell more shoes that are still made in sweatshop conditions by mostly young women of color in Vietnam, Indonesia, and China.
The short of it is, Nike never does anything simply because it is the right thing to do. They do not care about social justice or human rights. This is about money. Period. They are still reeling because of the sexual misconduct allegations at Nike headquarters and want to pivot attention away from that. They also see this as a way to endear themselves to one of their largest bases of customers - young black men - to sell more sneakers. And they are banking on capturing the anti-Trump movement with this move. Again, to sell more sneakers. This is “cause marketing” 101.
In closing, I want to be crystal clear. I 100% support Colin’s kneeling and why he’s kneeling. I also want to be clear that I am not in a position to suggest that Colin needs to use his platform to pivot the conversation away from police brutality to international labor rights and Nike’s sweatshop abuses. Every American needs to keep talking about police brutality and Colin is keeping that conversation front and center. White people who are uncomfortable with that — deal with it. It’s not our place to tell black Americans how to fight white supremacy in a way that makes us feel better. I am just sharing that this Nike thing makes me sad.
Peace, JWK
