Kaepernick: Quarterback is the face of new Nike campaign

[MC Prussian]

On 13/09/2018 at 02:57, Jordan said:

Kaep probably doesn’t need you or I to be his financial advisor, but IMO, he’s done well so far with his donations. I don’t know what more he plans to do with his money—he sent out the $1m in a year that’s still early in his activist life. Maybe there are other things he thinks he can do that mean more than money. SI had a good piece about how Kaep chose which organizations to donate to and how the money is used: https://www.si.com/sportsperson/2017/12/06/colin-kaepernick-charity-giving-donations

 

As far as “rights,” that’s what this whole thing is about, and I don’t see how that’s less of a platitude than talking about an obligation of duties. I also don’t think Kaepernick’s camp instructs kids to make extravagant demands in exchange for no effort to improve their lives and the well-being of their communities: https://www.thenation.com/article/colin-kaepernicks-message-to-chicago-youth-know-your-rights/ 

 

I have also seen comments here about “equality of outcome,” but American activism is not at that point. Most of the American left—from moderate Democrats through progressives up to the beginnings of the modern “Democratic Socialist” movement—has a different goal: equity of access. Metaphorically speaking, not everybody’s going to get (or even want) the same sized slice of cake, but we all should have a seat at the table. Even Kaepernick’s camp, which is influenced by a historic militant black liberation group that promoted extreme “self-reliance,” follows much more along the ongoing civil rights movement’s path than it does a list of demands by a Black Panther Party almost at war with the state.

 

Edit to add the “kneeling” movement never left the public consciousness over here. This offseason, we had a lot of discussions in the public in private and in the press about a ham-handed and ultimately unsuccessful attempt by the NFL to implement punishments for kneeling during the anthem, comments by President Trump ripping this movement right up through this week, and comments by players publicly rebuking the NFL and the President.

The SI piece does indeed use a few examples out of his total sum of donations - however, they don't explain the model in itself or in its totality completely.

The fact still remains that there's been no story as of yet (again, please supply the link if there has been such coverage), where it says how much of the money spent by Kaepernick actually goes to the people desperate for help and how much of it is wasted on the organization in terms of salaries, infrastructure, debt elimination or money that magically disappears.

The stories usually end with the organizations receiving the money, with a statement from a representative stating how they'd be using it - but the story doesn't end here, I want to hear more about how it impacts people in need at the receiving end.

See, donating money is a admirable thing, everyone can agree on that - yet there's plenty of examples where the money has been misused in the name of philanthropy. I don't question the donations in themselves, I question their effectiveness.

To give you an example: Imagine you're approached by a beggar asking for money - wouldn't it be more effective to hand him water and food instead of small change? In the end, you hope it's going to make a change, but you can't be sure.

Remember the day and age of Indulgence? There's something eerily similar about this whole charity industry of today that reminds me of that past practice.

 

Nobody's claimed Kaepernick's camp is "instructing kids to make extravagant demands" - I just found it funny that the camp emphasizes on rights only (as demonstrated on their website), instead of teaching a more wholistic approach, including duties, in order to balance it all out. It makes it all a bit one-sided for me.

 

In the end, the kneeling move is of course a very American subject. When I say it left the public eye, I meant the coverage over here. With regards to the NFL's decision, well, as far as I can tell it's a private organization and it can do whatever it pleases according to its own sets of rules and values.

I do hope the discussions result in a reasonable solution, the last thing I'd want to see is a US further divided by two parties and its subsidiaries desperately trying to cling onto or trying to regain power.

Edited 14 September 2018 by MC Prussian

[Guest]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/basketball/45528345