Kaepernick Told Us

Written By Jarvis Sam

After a 140 day hiatus due to Covid-19, the NBA has returned. The NBA has the hashtag #WholeNewGame because of the changes that have been made to ensure safety for everyone during these unprecedented times. First and foremost, there is no crowd! Well that is unless you count the fans that are there virtually. Secondly, they are in “the bubble”. No one can leave or comeback without doing a 10 day quarantine, just ask Lou Williams who decided run up to Magic City for some hot wings. Third, the players are on the sidelines socially distanced. Commentators have a partition separating them and sideline corespondents are wearing masks and maintaining social distancing when conducting interviews.

There are a host of other changes but here’s the one that stood out the most was the addition of all the social justice elements. These elements include players opting to have social justice messaging on the backs of there jerseys instead of their own name to Black Lives Matter covering the side of the court. When the National Anthem was played everyone took a knee....wait a minute this sounds a bit familiar. 

Let’s hit the rewind button and allow me to take you back to summer of 2016. July 5, 2016 Alton Sterling was murdered by 2 police officers outside of a convenience store. July 6, 2016 Philando Castile was murdered in cold blood in his car with his daughter and girlfriend in the car. In the wake of the murders of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, our nation got a harsh reminder of the reality of police brutality and systemic racism. The Black Lives Matter movement which started several years prior became stronger and gained great traction as the black community and other allies began to rally behind it. 

During the NFL preseason later that year, then San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl quarterback Colin Kaepernick was seen sitting on the bench during the National Anthem in protest of the recent killings of black men at the hands of the police. After having conversations with some teammates and a former NFL player he decided to be more respectful to the country and then on September 1, 2016 during the National Anthem of the final preseason game, Kaepernick took a knee. Kaepernick’s intent was never to disrespect the country or the men and women in the armed forces, it was to simply use his platform to bring awareness to the inequality and police brutality that our country is still facing. 

“This country stands for freedom, justice and liberty for all and it’s not happening for all right now...I’m standing up for those who don’t have a voice” Kaepernick said in a post game interview when asked what he was trying to accomplish through his protest. 

This sparked a great deal of controversy. By late September, many NFL players were kneeling or raising their fist during the anthem. The protests became a bigger headline than the actual games themselves. Coverage of the games would begin with a recap of what happened during the anthem. Who stood? Who kneeled? Who raised a fist? Who locked arms? With that in mind, Kaepernick’s protest was doing exactly what it needed to and that is create awareness and spark dialogue. No matter what your stance on the issues at hand, you could not ignore what was happening. Many people stopped watching football because of it. Others were very vocal one way or another. The reality is Kaepernick made an impact. 

On the field was a different story. Amidst of all the controversy, Kaepernick still tried to lead a struggling 49ers team. He put up decent numbers and played like an average starting quarterback in the league but the team under his leadership went 1-10 before he was sidelined. Going into the next season he opted out of his contract and became a free agent as there were talks of the team releasing him anyway. Now the big story has become, which team will sign Kaepernick for the 2017 campaign? The answer was shocking, NO ONE. 32 teams and no one signed him. This is a total miscarriage of justice and even more evident of the racist climate we have in this country. 

Let’s think about this for a minute. There are 32 NFL franchises. Each team operates with at least 3 quarterbacks on their depth chart. This would imply that there are 96 quarterbacks that are better than Colin Kaepernick. In the 2016 season where the Niners struggled, he still put up respectable stats. He had over 2200 passing yards, almost 500 rushing yards, 16 Touchdowns, only 4 interceptions and a QB rating of 90.7. There is no convincing me that 96 quarterbacks were better, especially when my hometown Houston Texans didn’t have a better quarterback on the roster period. 

It became apparent that NFL had blackballed him for his actions in the previous year. This was a very passive aggressive way of letting him know that they no longer needed his services. Of course later lawsuits ensued and Kaepernick became a major activist in the black community. Not only did he reach a settlement with the NFL, Nike took him as a partner and created merchandise and shoes that sold out instantly. Kaepernick never backed down or apologized for anything, rightfully so. Instead he stood his ground and the bold stance took paid off in the end. 

We all know how 2020 has gone. In the middle of a historic pandemic, we saw a cop take knee on the neck of an unarmed black man. Taking his life in a matter of 8 minutes. This is also following the murders of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery that had taken place earlier in the year. This of course sparked an onslaught of outrage yet again. Here we are again, this time with masks on, protesting and taking a stand against this corrupt system. This time however we see a very focused and intentional stance for social justice. It really feels like people have had enough. People are seeking out black owned businesses at a rate like never before. Juneteenth is being recognized as a holiday. You can not open Facebook or Instagram without seeing Black Lives Matter or Justice for Breonna Taylor. This momentum has been sustained since late May 2020 and still going strong.

We are 4 years removed from Kaepernick taking a knee, all sports leagues are getting on the social justice bandwagon. We have seen baseball players taking a knee during the first few games of their season. Then during the opening games of the NBA restart we saw everyone taking a knee and wearing Black Lives Matter on their pregame attire. As I stated earlier the court now has Black Lives Matter going across the side. All of this is beautiful but about 4 years too late. It can definitely be argued that it’s way more than 4 years too late but I’m simply referencing Kaepernick doing this 4 years ago and now it seems the world has finally caught up. 

I believe for most people it is much easier to do something when it’s being encouraged and welcomed, but it takes a person of character and a true leader to stand boldly when no one else is doing it. Let me encourage you by saying what you’re doing won’t always make sense to others at the moment but if you stand firmly for what you believe in, continue to walk in excellence and integrity when it’s seems everyone is coming against you, you will see the fruits of your labor on the other side. Colin Kaepernick used his platform to spearhead a change that we are seeing manifest 4 years later. It is my hope that we continue to bring awareness and keep our foot on the gas pedal when it comes to police brutality, racial inequality and systemic racism, then the work and sacrifice of Kaepernick will truly not go in vain.