David Michael Miller
One of the curses of being a baby boomer is that we came of age during the 1970s. Polyester leisure suits, perms for men, burnt orange and avocado-colored kitchen appliances, John Denver. Ok, I admit it, I actually liked John Denver.
But in the 1970s millions of us also took up jogging. Jim Fixx wrote a best seller, The Complete Book of Running, which became a bible for the craze. (He also died young). Fixx’s red shoes became iconic and, as we aged, we bought into the shoe company-inspired notion that we needed new shoes, in many colors others than red, about as often as we changed our socks. Now many of us are on our second pair of knees or hips.
But not me. I’ve run a few miles in my time and yet I buy a new pair of running shoes every five years or so whether I need them or not. And my joints are just fine.
Still, I think I’ll go buy a new pair of shoes this week. And they’ll be Nikes. That’s because Nike has launched a new ad campaign that employs Colin Kaepernick, a quality pro quarterback that the NFL refuses to employ because it doesn’t like his political views. Kaepernick recently got an arbitrator to agree with his claim that NFL owners have conspired to keep him out of the game because he started the silent protest of kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.
Despite an impressive resume, Kaepernick was cut by his old team, the San Francisco 49ers, before the 2017 season and hasn’t found a new home since. And there is no greater or more egregious co-conspirator in the NFL’s conspiracy to freeze out Kaepernick than our own Green Bay Packers. Last year the Pack suffered through a miserable season with backup quarterback Brett Hundley, who aspired to mediocrity and came up short. They could have had Kaepernick and improved their chances of being competitive, but they never so much as invited him for a try-out.
By blackballing Kaepernick the NFL has chosen sides in this cultural and political debate and it has chosen to be on Donald Trump’s team. Trump has lashed out at players who protest and has said that NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the anthem. The NFL has essentially acceded to Trump’s wishes and has fired Kaepernick.
Now Nike has taken my side and so I’ll buy their shoes. It’s not that I credit Nike with any kind of real commitment to any cause or any sort of moral courage. They’re just doing this to get free media attention — it helps with coveted younger consumers who are making lifetime brand choices, and it’s consistent with its history of edgy ad campaigns.
Still, in my view and according to my values, Kaepernick is right while Trump, the NFL and the Green Bay Packers, are wrong. I won’t watch the NFL’s games (though that has more to do with head injuries) but I will buy Nike’s shoes. I’m going to vote with my shoe dollar. My soles will align with my soul.
But I hate the culture wars. I wish our leaders — political, corporate, academic, spiritual, cultural — would look for ways to bridge our divides rather than widening them. Barack Obama did that, but then we elected a president whose entire being is fueled by rubbing salt in every cultural wound he can find. As long as our president and big corporate entities keep making me choose, I’ll pick my side. But let’s hope for the day when, on brand new knees, we all start running in the same direction again.
