The mayor of Kenner, Louisiana, has unleashed a political hellstorm after releasing an ill-advised memorandum declaring that, in the face of Nike’s Colin Kaepernick “Just Do It” advertising campaign, he was calling for a citywide ban on the global behemoth’s swooshy athletic products. Residents of the western New Orleans suburb are fighting back against Mayor E. Ben Zahn’s possibly illegal Nike ban.
In a memo to the city’s parks and recreation department dated Sept. 5—but not released to the public until Saturday—the already problematic mayor first ordered that all future “booster club purchases” be rubber-stamped by parks and recreation director Chad Pittfield or his designee, then further declared that no Nike products or items with the Nike logo were to be purchased or delivered to any “City of Kenner Recreational facility.”
Hoo boy.
Residents of Kenner, which is almost 25 percent black, were quick to voice their disgust with Zahn’s dim-witted dictum. The city’s government Facebook page, which, oddly, features a photo of Zahn as its profile pic, was quickly flooded with critical one-star reviews, as was the general city page.
Just one Kenner city councilmember spoke out against the edict—and, predictably, it was the lone black person on the entire council, Gregory Carroll. Saying he was 100 percent against the decision, Carroll called Zahn’s decision “in direct contradiction of [...] what the City of Kenner should stand for.”
Though Kenner officials may have been content to keep mum, their neighbors in New Orleans won’t.
New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell reminded the city of around 60,000 that they might be home to the airport, but her city (and its value system) run the show.
Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu called Zahn’s ban “unpatriotic.”
Kenner native Donna Brazile jumped in as well.
As social media outrage reached a fever pitch on Monday and a community protest loomed, Zahn attempted to smooth things over with his rightfully incensed constituents, but instead made things even worse with a failed double-down.
...when a company uses its advertising as its own political megaphone, government should be fair to all of its people and not allow taxpayer dollars to be used to help that company push its own political agenda.
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My internal memo draws the line on letting companies profit from taxpayers by espousing political beliefs. My decision disallowing Nike from profiting from our taxpayers while they are using their powerful voice as a political tool is my message. This government will not let taxpayer dollars be used to promote a company's or individual's political position, platform or principle. That's my position as a matter of fairness to all.
Zahn did, at least, have the wisdom to announce that he wasn’t forbidding residents from rocking their Nikes on city playgrounds. How generous and non-dictatorish of him.
Unsurprisingly, despite Zahn’s useless statement, the “Unity in Community” rally went on as planned Monday afternoon, with members of the New Orleans Saints in attendance, as well as councilmen from Jefferson Parish and New Orleans.
Nearly every speaker entreated the crowd to vote in November if they wanted real change.
Since the rally, a local Methodist church has begun a petition effort to get the ban overturned, which at this writing has well over 500 signatures. The petition vaguely references the 2017 Kenner police killing of 22-year-old Armond Jairon Brown, who witnesses say was in a mental health crisis when officers shot him down in his own father’s home.
U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, who represents the southern part of the city and is chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, also took Zahn to task on Tuesday in a scathing statement.
We should take a moment to question why Nike is the top priority for a local politician when his residents face a variety of social and economic challenges. Mayor Zahn is imposing his personal beliefs onto Little League players, and I strongly oppose his stance.
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Using the current controversy surrounding Nike's support of Colin Kaepernick as an excuse to rob resources from those who need it most in Kenner is a clear sign of Mayor Zahn's pandering at the expense of the very children he is entrusted with guiding. It is shameful to divide such a close-knit community just for national political attention.
Meanwhile, legal experts maintain that Zahn might not even have the authority to launch such a ban. Even if he does have that power, University of New Orleans political scientist Ed Chervenak asks, what’s the benefit of wielding it against youth sports leagues?
"Politically, just because you're mayor doesn't mean you're king," Chervenak said. "You have to work with other power centers, particularly the city council."
"It's hard to see what the end game is for this," Chervenak said. "It's bringing national attention, but not in a good way."
In an odd bit of timing, Nike also just launched a custom “Trumpet High” skateboarding shoe for the city of New Orleans, designed by a local businessman and shoe seller who is NOT worried about Kaepernick hurting his sales.
Zahn has previously made headlines when, as a councilman, he pushed to rename a local holiday festival “Christmas in the Park.”
He allowed that it would be open to other religions "within reason," but said that groups like Islamic State would not be allowed. His letter drew a sharp rebuke from the ACLU, which noted that the Islamic State is not a religion but claims to be a state.
In 2017, after becoming mayor, he also alienated the city’s substantial (about 22 percent) Latino population by re-allocating nearly $400,000 that had been designated for a Hispanic Resource Center to law enforcement and emergency personnel, supposedly in the name of public safety.
Just last week, on Sept. 2, Zahn also kicked off the city’s Freedom Fest by taking a very, very obvious stance while introducing a local singer.
"She's going to come out and do our national anthem because this is not the NFL football players, right? This is the city of Kenner. In the city of Kenner we all stand," he told the crowd prior to performance of the anthem.
Guys like Zahn are just so predictable, aren’t they?