The following is an editorial in which all views, thoughts, or opinions belong solely to the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Drury Mirror.

Over the past week, there has been a trend on social media.

Unfortunately, it’s not the kind of trend that you’re thinking of. No cats wearing bread on their faces or an ice bucket challenge. Instead, it’s people cutting the logo off of Nike products that they own, in protest to an advertisement Nike put out featuring NFL player Colin Kaepernick.

Colin Kaepernick

Kaepernick is a controversial character in America today. He is known not only for his NFL career but for his tendency to kneel during the national anthem before the games. Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem as a way to protest America’s treatment of racial minorities.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said in a 2016 interview with the NFL Media. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street, and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Kaepernick uses his message as a way to show other Americans that he’s not willing to sit by while innocent people are hurt. And in a way, he’s using the right medium to get it done. Kaepernick is a figure in the public eye, seen on TV almost every week for four months. But the purpose of this article isn’t to discuss the morals of Kaepernick’s protest; it’s to discuss the purpose of those protesting Nike and Kaepernick, and I’m here to tell you why they’re wrong.

The real problem with Nike

Let’s start it off plain and simple; I’m not here to defend Kaepernick and Nike. I’m just here to offer an alternative idea, and one that I think is very simple.

Don’t protest Nike because of Colin Kaepernick. Protest Nike because of Nike.

Nike has been known for its shady business practices for decades. One example is the company’s use of sweatshops in countries like China, Taiwan and South Korea in the 1970s. For decades Nike claimed that they had no oversight in the factories that they contracted, and that it wasn’t their problem, though they began auditing and inspecting factories in the early 2000s.

But the problems don’t stop there. A report by the Clean Clothes Report and Éthique sur l’étiquette exposed the wage problems existing in Indonesian Nike factories. Women working in these sweatshops, most of them making Nike jerseys and shoes, earn a wage of 90 to 230 dollars a month. To put that in perspective, the calculated average cost for basic needs, such as food, electricity, and water, in these areas amounts to more than 400 dollars a month. That’s three times the wage of the lowest earner.

Nike is a company that deserves to be protested against, but not for the reasons many people in America are protesting. Nike is a company just trying to capitalize on the precarious political atmosphere that hangs over our nation at the moment, and I think that you deserve to know all of the facts.

And hey, if you still feel like protesting Nike, at least don’t ruin the clothes you’ve already bought.

Article by Ryan Smith.