Colin Kaepernick speaks onstage at ACLU SoCal Hosts Annual Bill of Rights Dinner. December 3, 2017.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
On Labor Day, Colin Kaepernick was revealed as one of the athletes selected for Nike's 30th anniversary "Just Do It" campaign. This news, combined with the revelation that he'd resigned with Nike and will be releasing clothing with the brand in the future, was a significant story in both sports and politics: formerly the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick has not played for an NFL team since 2016, when he started the kneeling protest that soon swept the league. Kaepernick's simple gesture against African-American inequality became a favorite invocation for President Trump in his ongoing culture war – last year at a rally he encouraged the NFL to fire any "son of a bitch" who protests.
Suffice it to say that Kaepernick is a polarizing figure: adored by people who care about social justice and equal rights, despised by everyone else. The reaction to Kaepernick's latest endorsement led many Trump-supporters to burn or otherwise vandalize their allegedly owned Nike gear. Much of it was documented, and provided perfect fodder for great tweets clowning on the weirdos. There were also a few who wondered whether an endorsement from Nike was the best advancement for the struggle for liberation that Kaepernick advocates. Read them all below.