The motion for last nights debate was “Nike should be applauded for standing with Colin Kaepernick”. Our team of Lhamo Fitzsimons, Michael Wright, Emma Carter and Rebecca Parke were proposing the motion and spoke about Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the American national anthem at football games and instead took the knee to protest police brutality and racism in America. It was a fascinating debate and there was much back and forth about Kaepernick’s motivation and Nike’s motivation and whether they are as genuine as one might believe or is there something more sinister at work. Are Nike looking to push sales and is Kaepernick trying to revive a failing football career? We held fast though and there was no denying that Nike and Kaepernick should be applauded for taking a stand. When your faced with the stark figures around poverty and crime and how black people people in America suffer disproportionately in comparison to others it’s hard to oppose the motion. We have our final debate on the 28th November in Woodbrook in Bray and we are opposing the motion “the global time bomb situation is being diffused”. Then it’s a long wait until February to see if we got enough points to make it out of the league and into the next round.