Colin Kaepernick is probably one of the most polarizing figures in the NFL from the last 50 years. While his initial burst into American living rooms was for the San Francisco 49ers, over the last 5 years though, his name has been synonymous with his ideas of everything in America being “racist” than with his playing skills.
Starting in November 2012, he stepped in to fill in for the injured Alex Smith. Later that season he made his first postseason start and took the 49ers to the Super Bowl where he failed miserably. In 2014 he got a $126 million extension, and the “new contract” struggles started. In August 2016, he started sitting for the National Anthem. The next money he starts to kneel after reportedly speaking to US Army veteran Nate Boyer about his racist-based protest. In January 2017, he played his last game as a 49er and opted out of his contract in March 2017.
Despite his flash-in-the-pan success as a QB, Kaepernick received few “serious” offers for his skills to come to another team. The kneeling thing was a huge distraction to many clubs, as were his demands to be the highest-paid QB in the league as well as a guaranteed starting role. Nobody was willing to bite. When the NFL was sued by Kaepernick for what he called collusion against him, they offered him an open workout. Few teams sent someone to come see the once potential star and those that did largely sent errand boys.
A few teams have reached out to offer him a tryout, but every time it was more important to him that he controls the narrative and the location. He would turn these opportunities into the Kaepernick show for Nike and promote his message that everything and everyone was racist.
In his interview with CBS News that first aired on March 9th, Kaepernick took the opportunity to throw his adoptive parents, who are both white, under his bus of racism. Despite taking him in at five weeks old, he accused them of “perpetuating racism.” Brought on to discuss his new novel “Change the Game” Kaepernick discussed the “problematic” disagreements he and his parents had that were attributed to racism.
“I know my parents loved me. But there were still very problematic things that I went through. I think it was important to show that, no, this can happen in your own home, and how we move forward collectively while addressing the racism that is being perpetuated.” He specified that when he decided to braid his hair into cornrows his mom warned him his hair looked “not professional” and instead he looked like a “little thug.”
As he continued, he explained “Those become spaces where it’s like, ‘Okay, how do I navigate the situation now?’ But it also has informed why I have my hair long today.”
Kaepernick’s birth mother Heidi Russo comes from a lower-class white family. The black man who impregnated her took off after learning she was pregnant. Upon the advice of her parents, she gave up her son for adoption. Colin was then adopted, and while his birth mother tried reconnecting with him when she “found” him, he wanted nothing to do with her or his nameless father.
This man has pushed racism down the throats of the American public for nearly a decade. In his mind, the white man has knelt on the throats of black men for centuries. In his way of thinking, whites are to blame for all of the world’s problems, and the police are the Gestapo of the white man’s way of life.
It’s surprising how quickly he forgets that he is half-white. By the racist tirades, he should have beaten himself up and knelt on his own neck long ago. The fact of the matter is, he has been playing the race card as a way to excuse himself from playing in the NFL after his playing put him on the bench. He felt that being black had held him back from being a QB. The fact of the matter is, he just wasn’t and still isn’t that good.
