Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

We often hear that police officers across the country are pissed at Colin Kaepernick. When Nike announced an endorsement deal with the former NFL quarterback, who has been effectively banned from the league for his protests during the national anthem, an umbrella group of police unions called the National Association of Police Organizations called for its ranks to boycott the shoemaker’s products. Yet we often don’t hear about how black police officers across the country think of Kaepernick and the subjects he raised with his protest. The reality is that these cops are often in support not only of Kaepernick’s stance against police brutality, racism, and injustice in the United States, but that black police actually support and defend his previous protests around those issues during the national anthem.

On Wednesday, the National Black Police Association released an open letter they sent to Mark Parker, Nike’s CEO. In the letter, the group not only condemned the calls from traditionally white police organizations to boycott Nike, but congratulated Nike on its new campaign featuring Kaepernick.

“Kaepernick’s stance is in direct alignment with what law enforcement stands for—the protection of a people, their human rights, their dignity, their safety, and their rights as American citizens.”