A Rhode Island town has decided to boycott Nike following the company’s decision to make NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of their #JustDoIt campaign.
On Monday, North Smithfield’s town council passed a resolution with a 3-2 vote on Monday for a non-binding resolution to encourage its departments not to use Nike products, according to WCVB.
The town’s administrator reportedly did not know if specific Nike products were used in the departments.
More than 20 people spoke against the resolution at the meeting, according to Providence Journal.
“The resolution is a request — it is not a demand the town not purchase Nike, or the school department not purchase Nike,” said council president and former state trooper, John Beauregard. “I’m requesting that they do it — if they chose to go forward and do it, there won’t be any repercussions. It’s simply a request.”
“The reason I’m doing it is the person Nike has to put forward to represent their company has a great deal of disdain for police,” said Beauregard. “He’s worn socks depicting the police as pigs.”
“This is not about anyone taking a knee,” he added. “You might be surprised, but I support their right. Just because I do not believe in his cause does not mean I do not believe in his rights,” he said of Kaepernick.
Beauregard added that he is against Kaepernick’s “derogatory comments about police” and his financial support for “someone who murdered a police officer,” in reference to Kaepernick donating $25,000 to Assata Shakur — a woman who was found guilty but fled the country to Cuba after escaping from prison.
The resolution claimed “102 police officers have been killed in the line of duty so far this year,” and Beauregard added that a police officer was killed as recently as Sunday night.
Prior to the meeting, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island told the council to “just don’t do it” in a letter to the council.
On Twitter, the ACLU of Rhode Island wrote: “The resolution’s demagoguery truly is shameful.”
A New Orleans suburb tried to ban Nike products from the city’s recreation department but rescinded its decision after public pressure. A Georgia University also said it was willing to cut ties with Nike as the brand for its school apparel in the campus bookstore.