NEW JERSEY STATE
POLICEMEN’S BENEVOLENT
ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE BOARD
PATRICK COLLIGAN
State President
MARC KOVAR
Executive Vice President
Peter Andreyev 1st Vice President
Michael Pellegrino 2nd Vice President
Mark Aurigemma 3rd Vice President
Eugene Dello 4th Vice President
Richard Kott 5th Vice President
Frederick Ludd 6th Vice President
Luke Sciallo 7th Vice President
Frank P. Cipully 8th Vice President
Ed Carattini, Jr. 9th Vice President
Michael Freeman 10th Vice President
Bryan Flammia 11th Vice President
Robert Ormezzano 12th Vice President
Michael Kaniuk Financial Secretary
Margaret Hammond Recording Secretary
John Monsees Treasurer
Terrance Benson, Sr. Trustee
Rodney Furby Trustee
Charles Schwartz Trustee
Patrick Moran Trustee
Joseph Macones Trustee
Michael Tardio Trustee
Michael Heller Trustee
Keith Curry Sergeant-at-Arms
Christopher Ricciotti Sergeant-at-Arms
John Granahan Sergeant-at-Arms
Andrew Pacucci Sergeant-at-Arms
Joseph Nigro Sergeant-at-Arms
Mark Piercy Sergeant-at-Arms
Christopher Ebert Sergeant-at-Arms
Brian Brownlie Sergeant-at-Arms
Michael Palmentieri Sergeant-at-Arms
Stephen Warren Sergeant-at-Arms
4
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ SEPTEMBER 2018
No (social) justice in
Kaepernick ad
Regardless of how you feel about the NFL protests of the national an-
them, I would certainly hope that you support the players’ right to do it.
The common theme of these protests is social justice, but the individual
players seem to have their own way of doing it and their own thoughts
on why.
Now, Nike has entered the fray and made Colin Kaepernick the face of
its newest marketing campaign. And yes, as expected – and as Nike cer-
Patrick
tainly calculated – using Kaepernick in its ads has sparked controversy.
Colligan
I would like to think that Nike actually gave a crap about social jus-
tice issues, but the company’s practice of deploying slave labor hasn’t
changed much since the 1970s. In some countries where Nike has factories, workers
still have to deal with obscenely low wages, forced overtime, toilet use restrictions,
sweltering heat, unsafe conditions, padlocked exit doors and myriad of well-docu-
mented abuses. Yes, Nike has tried to make changes, but the company consistently
ranks near the bottom on the lists of the slave labor watchdog groups.
I suspect their decision to
use Kaepernick was more
about sparking sagging ap-
parel and sneaker sales in
North America than a sudden
interest in humanitarian and
social justice issues. If you
are burning your Nike gear,
I hope it’s in support of Nike
workers around the world
who continue to suffer with
no relief in sight.
As for free speech, it’s the first amendment of the Constitution for good reason. We
will probably never know how many people die every day in this world trying to ex-
ercise their right to speak freely or die trying to get to this country to be able to do it
legally.
On the other side of free speech, however, is the right for us not to agree with it.
My issue with Kaepernick is that his protests came along with some pretty offensive
slaps in the face to those of us in law enforcement. Go ahead and protest police bru-
tality; no problem there. But when you wear a pair of socks to practice depicting law
enforcement officers as pigs, you just diluted your social justice message. When you
write a check for $25,000 to a group celebrating a convicted cop killer who is on the
FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list, you again have diluted your social justice message.
In fact, besides kneeling and writing some checks, I can’t see what actions Kaepernick
has taken to actually effect change.
More than 1,000 people were shot in Chicago this past summer. A shooting occurs in
Chicago about every three hours. Didn’t know that? Most people don’t, and I think that
is a social injustice and socioeconomic issue that might need more attention.
I won’t pretend we don’t have problems in our profession. I know that we always
will, despite a lot of initiatives to make it better. I have no problem if you want to pro-
test law enforcement, but when you choose to make a mockery of it, please forgive me
if I put you squarely in the same disingenuous category as Nike.
I’ll die protecting your right to free speech. But I don’t have to like the way you do
it.