When Nike decided to feature Colin Kaepernick in a new advertising campaign, several prominent national police organizations were quick to jump on sporting apparel company.
The Fraternal Order of Police implied that featuring the embattled quarterback was an “insult” to law enforcement. The National Association of Police Organizations even called for a boycott of
Nike. However, in the wake of this, the National Black Police Association
wrote a letter defending Kaepernick, which also served as an insult to the larger police organizations criticizing Nike. “As black officers, we often find ourselves riding the wave with other officers, but no one has asked us what our opinion is,” Sonia Y.W. Pruitt, chair of the NBPA,
told The Washington Post. “On many of these social issues we disagree, but nobody knows that, because the assumption is that if you’re a police officer that you all think the same way,” she continued. This racial split between officer organizations could be a reflection of the racial split that exists nationally. According to
PRRI polling, when asked about whether professional athletes making public statements about political issues bothered them, 45 percent of white Americans said it did while only 26 percent of black Americans said the same.