Pretty brilliant by Nike, they will only sell even more merchandise now.

"Also, music is a reflection of society, it doesn't create the society."

Why not both?

Anyone who has seen Game of Thrones season 7 should realize why bending the knee as a protest is dumb

Just need to chime in for a sec in regards to that NYTimes article you posted.

That study, and the way the NYTimes reported it, had serious issues:

https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/07/15/harvard-study-officer-involved-shootings/

https://scholar.harvard.edu/jfeldman/blog/roland-fryer-wrong-there-racial-bias-shootings-police

Don't agree with the guy and what he was doing, it was very unnecessary and led by ignorance. But the message isn't bad what Nike is pushing, to do what you believe in and love no matter the cost. I really don't care for american football, I am more into Esports so what he did really has not made me mad in the past like it would for NFL fans.
I really like Nike products so this won't stop me from buying since it really didn't push any agenda, just a simple message to "Just Do It" - Shia Labeouf. Wait no, why didn't they get Shia Labeouf to do the ad campaign? He is the best man for the job!.

What he said wasn't factually untrue.  You can disagree about the root causes but banning anyone who mentions the situation isn't doing anyone any good.  Honestly, that kind "no, you can't talk about that" mentality is a negative thing.

That doesn't debunk the findings of it. 

If I tell (or more specifically, advise) black people (or more specifically, people who have something to be upset about and happen to be black) to protest by making signs and marching on streets peacefully and not loot stores that had nothing to do with some event and write their representatives about their grievance, am I doing something wrong? If so, where did I go wrong?

Did I go wrong when I was born "whitey" or was my mistake being a "Whitey McSportsfan"?

Wow, talk about restrictive! Okay SpokenTruth, you've convinced me! Where are these people who are against protesting through ALL of the following means: looting, wearing a shirt, marching with signs, kneeling during a game, speaking during a play, and during a graduation.

I want to get in touch with these people and ask them myself: what is the right way to protest?

You say "Few protests are a direct statement of the thing being protested" and I think that's something that needs to change. After all, just look at what happened to Kap's kneeling protest: "the majority of people that have lashed out at Kaepernick have no idea that was the reason and they simply attribute it to protesting the flag and the anthem."

Kap should have worn a "end police brutality" shirt or something to reduce ambiguity... Gotta make sure I'm not a "whitey" before advising that though.

What point did I miss?

I don't know... If music can influence fashion, surely it can influence other behaviors as well?

I know my love for Pink Floyd has influenced me to buy merch of theirs.

I wanted to learn guitar at one point too.

What are you even talking about? I can not tell if you are just purposefully being intellectually dishonest, or if you just do not understand how reactions to political movements or protests usually work. No one would ever say, or identify themselves as, someone who is against all types of protests. Firstly because that would be too specific of an identifier, secondly because even among the biggest fans of America, openly stating that you are against all protests comes off like a negative attitude towards one of the most fundamental parts of American culture. Even with those things acknowledged, you probably could find some random person who openly states they are against all forms of protest. 

What a large number of people are ALWAYS against, although for the most part entirely subconsciously, is the protest for issues related to race, the black experience, or other things that can be safely put under "trivialities" to those not experiencing them. Not out of racism or prejudice though (well ... speaking broadly). Even I can admit to this, as someone who is tired of America's political discourse mostly being about racial tensions that always seem to be experienced entirely different from every group of people. People do not like to have to think about issues which do not concern them, they also do not like feeling as if something is given greater importance than it actually has relevant to the real world. Hell, a lot of people just do not like to think of important issues in any way, whether black or otherwise. These issues are complex, and a lot of people do not know how to feel about them, or feel very distinctly one way. And so being reminded of them in any way makes them dislike protests. That's not to say that they will be negative to any protest ever regardless of subject, but especially towards political protest this is true. That's not to say that these reasons are valid, but these kind of suspicions can ruin the idea of protests entirely (in today's society where most people experience a constant streaming of problems relayed through twitter and television, it is easy to be apathetic to most issues, and so many times protests are mostly convincing to those that are already close to being convinced or already feel passionately one way). I am guilty of this, I don't like having to see stuff crammed down my throat, because it can feel pretentious, I don't like being reminded of how little I actually know of America's systematic issues, and I do not like feeling as if a statement is being made that I can not take a part in. These are never things I would think out-loud, unless I spent serious time reflecting on them. They are mostly subconscious, and whether or not systemic racial issues in the U.S. exist, these kind of reactions are almost always based on some kind of unreasonable emotional core. 

I'm talking about this image.

When I see this image, I come away with the fact that there is one speaker. This one speaker is seemingly against six forms of protest and this image was posted in the context of SpokenTruth's post. Preceding this image was SpokenTruth's "Every time they protest something, you get throngs of white people yelling back to not protest like that."

I could be wrong but I assume the one speaker from this image is one of those in the "throngs of white people" SpokenTruth is referring to. This one speaker certainly seems ridiculous saying a march with signs is not how a peaceful protest should be carried out. As a result, I was curious and wanted to talk to one of these in the "throngs of white people" because I think dialogue is a great way to air grievances.

In my case, my grievance is that this one speaker opposes a peaceful march with signs but I don't know why they could be against such a thing.