0
0
I’m sure all of you have heard the latest butthurt news out of the U.S. In case you haven’t heard, Nike released an ad with Colin Kaepernick for its 30th Anniversary of Just Do It:
Now, if you want to know how I feel about Colin Kaepernick, click here for a refresher.
The hours and days after the ad had debuted, it was funny to watch some of the reaction online. I mean, people really lost their fucking shit over this. Some swore they would never buy Nike again while others ran out and bought as much as they could.
My reaction, more or less, was along these lines:
I mean…y’all gon get this upset over a shoe company but not outraged at the countless mass shootings every year? Does anyone still talk about Parkland anymore? A member of the current administration pleaded guilty to conspiracy. That should create more outrage than a pair of Jordans one was never going to buy.
We already have Nike products so the ad wasn’t going to make a difference in our household. Instead of being big mad or indifferent to Nike’s stance, I decided to take a different approach:
Buy Nike stock for Bear.
Now, we could lace our son up and down in Jordans until his heart is content. But let’s keep it one hundred, my 4 1/2 year old has no idea who Michael Jordan is. In fact, my son only knows one athlete in the family and that’s his cousin, Tony, who we see playing on the weekends.
My husband and I aren’t really into wearing brands as much as we were. Honestly, I’m not sure if we ever were. We do have some really nice items (including a pair of Air Force Ones that haven’t been worn), but we’re not label whores. You won’t really see me bragging too much about the designer whatever I just purchased. In other words, if I haven’t worn a lot of Nike gear before, I’m not going to start now.
So, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on shoes that will only last a few years (or in Bear’s case, a few months), I decided to buy him stock. I decided to invest in my son’s future. And who knows what he’ll do with the money? He might go to college, start a business, have a downpayment on a home, or just have fun. It’s his choosing.
But I refuse to take part in showing off for the ‘Gram and social media. A lot of people do that just to start shit and *yawn*, it’s so played out. Just be an asshole and call it a day.
I particularly don’t like it when non-black people feel they have a say in what happens in black issues; telling us how we should act but never offer any real, concrete solutions. People who have never been black a day in their lives, but they want to open their mouths telling us how we should deal with the injustice we have on an hourly basis.
This is usually my reaction:
In terms of Bear, he is not my political pawn and I really don’t like it when parents use their children to solidify their stances. You won’t see my son suddenly dressed in a Kaepernick jersey nor will you see him in any other political stance. He’s not old enough to understand any of that and furthermore, I don’t want my feelings to influence his.
While everyone is showing out on social media about how they won’t purchase any more Nike or bragging about all of the Nike they’d just purchased, I’m going to be sitting quietly and comfortably with my Nike stock.
Why be mad when I can potentially be wealthy?
All I can say is this is why we are sisters.