Ten years after Colin Kaepernick decided to protest police brutality against the Black community in 2016, he’s now offering fresh perspectives on the issue.
The former NFL player infamously took a knee when the national anthem was sung in protest of racism and police brutality, resulting in the end of his football career.
In the wake of everything that has happened, especially the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, Kaepernick is somewhat hopeful that things will take a turn for the better.
Colin Kaepernick is speaking out about his controversial defiance of the flag and the national anthem 10 years after the incident.
To promote his upcoming memoir, “The Perilous Fight,” the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback sat for a wide-ranging interview with NBC News, where he discussed everything from the misconceptions widely believed at the time to the blowback he suffered for his protest.
Acknowledging that a lot has changed since 2016, he noted that much work still needs to be done. However, his displeasure with the NFL has lingered, as he revealed he hasn’t watched a single game since the incident.
“I’m not gonna support an organization that, one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well,” Kaepernick said. “I watch college football.”
Kaepernick Says Fatherhood Has Intensified His Fight
4Also part of the reason why he’s speaking up now is the impact fatherhood has had on him. Having welcomed a now-4-year-old daughter with his partner Nessa, he explained that his bundle of joy has intensified his need to reflect more on his cause.
He said that he doesn’t want his daughter or anyone in his community to feel like he gave up the fight or think it wasn’t worth it in the end, adding that being a dad “increases the responsibility and urgency of the work we’re doing.”
“I don’t want my community to watch me and have the takeaway be that if you fight for Black folks, it’s over for you,” he writes in his book.
Kaepernick Sets The Record Straight On ‘Take A Knee’ Protest
4Elsewhere in his chat with the news outlet, Kaepernick clarified a widely held misconception about exactly who came up with the idea of kneeling.
Against claims at the time that Army veteran Nate Boyer suggested he take the action, the 38-year-old activist revealed that it was actually his former 49ers teammate, Eric Reid, who came up with the idea.
Boyer had written an open letter to Kaepernick at the time, noting that he was looking to understand the motive behind the protest even though he was initially angry with it.
When he eventually met with Kaepernick and Reid, they reportedly discussed how the protest could continue without angering those in the military, but the military veteran believed it was next to impossible.
After a few suggestions, including bowing his head or sitting on the bench, which Boyer said “wasn’t the most inspiring,” the conversation tilted toward taking a knee.
However, Kaepernick and Reid had discussed it between themselves before their meeting with Boyer. The former quarterback noted that he didn’t clarify it until now because he and Reid wanted to focus on the issue at hand and avoid getting caught “in a personal back-and-forth over whose idea it was.”
Kaepernick Says ‘Take A Knee’ Protest Cost Him His NFL Career
4Kaepernick went on to praise the support they received at the time, saying the massive backlash was a distraction from the issue he was speaking about.
He then went further to speak on how it cost him his football career, as most teams refused to sign him after he became a free agent in 2017.
“Coming off a Super Bowl, an NFC Championship, and setting records, and not a single team would bring me in, even for a workout?” Kaepernick wondered.
He revealed that some coaches and teams tried to sign him but claimed they were shut down by a couple of higher-ups.
Kaepernick writes that an example of such a coach was former head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, John Harbaugh, who’d told him he was “pushing” to sign him, but was “shut down from above.”
Colin Kaepernick Calls NFL’s Goodell Response ‘Performative’
4However, the league continued to deny that there was an organized collusion to keep him out. When George Floyd was killed, resulting in worldwide protests against police brutality, Kaepernick said seeing it made him hopeful that change was to follow.
The NFL wasn’t spared as players demanded that the league condemn racism and “admit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell released a video, but Kaepernick said he wasn’t impressed because it was born of pressure.
“His response through that video was only because of pressure from players, not because it was altruistic,” he said, adding that the idea that the NFL should have listened to them was “laughable.”
“We had been trying to address the issue that the NFL created with blackballing me for years. To come out and say we should have listened on the back of that — while I’m still actively trying to play in the NFL — it’s so performative,” he added.
