In 2016, while he was the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers professional (U.S.) football team, Colin Kaepernick decided to use his platform as a pro athlete to bring attention to police terrorism against the African masses. His way of using this platform was to start sitting (which he and the others should have never stopped doing), and then eventually kneeling whenever the so-called U.S. "national anthem" was played at the start of games.
The fallout from his actions are widely known. Many other players, including his teammate at the time - Eric Reid - joined him and then the U.S. empire president used his racist platform to inflame his followers by dehumanizing and attacking Kaepernick and the other players. Much worthless noise around this issue has taken place since that time. After San Francisco informed Kaepernick that they were going to release him, he decided to try and take some control over his career by opting out of his contract. That was March of 2017 and Kaepernick hasn't had a job playing in the National Football League (NFL) since. He and Reid filed a lawsuit against the NFL claiming the NFL owners colluded against hiring them because the owners were afraid of angering the masses of their white racist fan bases. The collusion suit ended with a settlement between the NFL and Kaepernick with a gag order being placed over the results so that none of us know any details beyond Kaepernick and Reid receiving several million dollars each in the settlement. Most recently, the NFL announced earlier this week that the league was organizing a workout for Kaepernick. The stated purpose of the workout was to provide Kaepernick an opportunity to demonstrate that despite three years not playing professional football, he still possesses the skills to be on an NFL roster. The league announced that they were inviting all 32 NFL franchises to this workout which took place yesterday.
Like everything surrounding Kaepernick's relationship to the NFL since 2016, the workout was filled with controversy. Kaepernick's group apparently changed the time and location. The NFL attempted to accuse him of some misdeeds around the workout. The workout took place and teams did show up. So, the question is where does all of this sit today and why should we pay any attention to any of it?
First, we should acknowledge the racist curtain that surrounds everything involving Kaepernick today. The first sham is this narrative that the workout is a waste because Kaepernick doesn't have the talent to be on an NFL roster. Before the protests against police terrorism started in the NFL, Kaepernick was a starting quarterback in San Francisco in 2016. Just four years before that, he had taken San Francisco within a few yards of winning the Superbowl against Baltimore. Than, the very next year, he took that team to within a few yards of returning to the Superbowl. There are many quarterbacks who played concurrent to the time Kaepernick was in the league who were considered better than he, like Tony Romo, etc, who cannot make that claim about the team success Kaepernick experienced. To that, some haters have claimed that Kaepernick's skills in 2016 were not the same as they were in 2013, but the actual data doesn't back up those ridiculous assertions. No one is claiming that Kaepernick was ever Joe Montana or Steve Young in a San Fran uniform, but the facts are he completed 60% of his passes and had a very solid 71/31 touchdown to interception ratio. In 2016 he threw 16 touchdowns to only four interceptions. What this means is the arguments that he was "figured out" by teams in the league and that he couldn't play don't hold water. There are 32 teams in the league and each team keeps at least two quarterbacks on its roster. That means there are at least 64 quarterbacks in the NFL. Among these quarterbacks are Brian Hoyer, Mason Rudolph, Jamis Winston, Marcus Mariotta, Joe Flacco, Baker Mayfield, and many others who not even a complete idiot can logically claim are better than Kaepernick. And when I say not better, I mean their statistics don't compare and they certainly don't match Kaepernick's proven ability to make plays with his ability to run with the ball (for example, compare Kaep's running stats with those of Winston's or Mariottas). Is this saying Kaepernicks an elite quarterback? Of course not, but without question, he's qualified to be playing in the NFL today.
With a pardon to the non-sports fans who were forced to wade through the last few paragraphs here, the football background is important because the Kaepernick haters are using those arguments to justify why he isn't playing in the NFL when the real reason these people are against him has nothing to do with his playing ability because if that was true they would be lobbying equally as hard to get all of the sub-par quarterbacks I named and others out of the league. In truth, no one cares how bad a quarterback is unless that quarterback is performing poorly for the team they follow. So, why the universal hatred and justification for Kaepernick being without an NFL job? Plain and simple, the answer is white supremacy. Misinformation about white supremacy is the dominant element today. Everyone has a lot to say about it, but virtually no one has bothered to do any comprehensive study and organizing against it. Of course, like anything, those of us who have done this work have developed some pretty astute skill sets at being able to breakdown and analyze events around the implementation of white supremacist activities. For instance, we know that the bulk of the opposition against Kaepernick is based in the fact that this African slave had the audacity to call out the master (the police) for its mistreatment of the slave population. This sick and dysfunctional perspective explains the "just play sports and shut up" refrain because the same people saying that to Kaepernick are not saying the same thing to Europeans and/or Africans who represent the interests of European capitalism who articulate talking points that advance white supremacy e.g. Ted Nugent, Curt Shilling (former Major League Baseball pitcher), Clint Eastwood, and a series of other European entertainers, athletes, etc., who speak in support of the capitalist/imperialist white supremacist patriarchy. None of these people have ever told Curt Shilling to shut up. Now, their response to that last statement will be to say none of those white celebrities were articulating their views while working, but that's another sham white supremacist argument. Those people are supporting the system in power so they obviously have no need or requirement to protest against that system. As a result, after the games and/or concert interview provides for their propaganda needs (despite the fact people like Nugent have a long history of using their concerts to announce their backward political views, yet these Kaepernick critics are crickets on criticizing this when it happens). On the other hand, Kaepernick is protesting the very institution he works for. I realize that even he may attempt to say that's not the case, but he didn't choose the national anthem randomly. The reason he chose it to display his protest is because the anthem is a part of the contradiction. The entire lie that the U.S. is a free and democratic country, like the song promotes, is clearly a lie if the state sanctioned employees for the country can kill Africans and others with impunity. So, Kaepernick, whether he meant it or not, cannot just be protesting specific police killings when he doesn't acknowledge the U.S. flag and anthem. He and others are saying this country is based on injustice and that means the police, social services, the flag, the military, the anthem, everything. So, he is protesting his job and he and the others should be protesting the NFL. This is a league that has encouraged an environment where Kaepernick is hated for making a principled stand. He didn't violate any of their laws. He didn't harm and threaten to harm a single soul. In fact, he quietly protested. He even modified his protest (which, as I said, he shouldn't have done). Meanwhile, the NFL harbors players who brutally physically abuse women and all of these losers combined don't receive a fraction of the hatred directed at Kaepernick. What else is any critically thinking person going to conclude from this insanity except that the problem isn't Kaepernick's quarterback skillset. It isn't that he protested "wrongly." The problem is that he dared protest at all. That any African would dare speak out against this great plantation. The slave master (and all those who aspire to be slave masters e.g. capitalist shot callers), is angry with these rebellious slaves. In 1819 this anger translated into beatings, burnings, lynchings, etc. Today, it still could mean those things, but most often for someone with visibility like Kaepernick it means alienation and castigation. Same old thing and those of us who understand this history have no trouble spotting it when it happens.
What all of this means is we don't know whether a team will offer Kaepernick a contract after his workout. Really, that's not really a priority to anyone besides him. What's important is that we recognize that the NFL doesn't care about Kaepernick or anyone like him getting the opportunity they deserve. Their dominant perspective is that we are owned property and we should just entertain them, especially those of us they pay well for that entertainment. The contradictions like the domestic abusers, they couldn't care less about. These players like everything in capitalism are commodities. To the NFL elite its like your pedigree dog tearing your expensive shoes up. If a team thinks Kaepernick can help them win and they are comfortable in believing their racist public has forgotten their anger against Kaepernick, they will sign him. The point is its the racist narrative that will drive whatever happens to him. Its that narrative that drives what happens to all of us. And, after all the noise, that's really what all of this amounts to.
The fallout from his actions are widely known. Many other players, including his teammate at the time - Eric Reid - joined him and then the U.S. empire president used his racist platform to inflame his followers by dehumanizing and attacking Kaepernick and the other players. Much worthless noise around this issue has taken place since that time. After San Francisco informed Kaepernick that they were going to release him, he decided to try and take some control over his career by opting out of his contract. That was March of 2017 and Kaepernick hasn't had a job playing in the National Football League (NFL) since. He and Reid filed a lawsuit against the NFL claiming the NFL owners colluded against hiring them because the owners were afraid of angering the masses of their white racist fan bases. The collusion suit ended with a settlement between the NFL and Kaepernick with a gag order being placed over the results so that none of us know any details beyond Kaepernick and Reid receiving several million dollars each in the settlement. Most recently, the NFL announced earlier this week that the league was organizing a workout for Kaepernick. The stated purpose of the workout was to provide Kaepernick an opportunity to demonstrate that despite three years not playing professional football, he still possesses the skills to be on an NFL roster. The league announced that they were inviting all 32 NFL franchises to this workout which took place yesterday.
Like everything surrounding Kaepernick's relationship to the NFL since 2016, the workout was filled with controversy. Kaepernick's group apparently changed the time and location. The NFL attempted to accuse him of some misdeeds around the workout. The workout took place and teams did show up. So, the question is where does all of this sit today and why should we pay any attention to any of it?
First, we should acknowledge the racist curtain that surrounds everything involving Kaepernick today. The first sham is this narrative that the workout is a waste because Kaepernick doesn't have the talent to be on an NFL roster. Before the protests against police terrorism started in the NFL, Kaepernick was a starting quarterback in San Francisco in 2016. Just four years before that, he had taken San Francisco within a few yards of winning the Superbowl against Baltimore. Than, the very next year, he took that team to within a few yards of returning to the Superbowl. There are many quarterbacks who played concurrent to the time Kaepernick was in the league who were considered better than he, like Tony Romo, etc, who cannot make that claim about the team success Kaepernick experienced. To that, some haters have claimed that Kaepernick's skills in 2016 were not the same as they were in 2013, but the actual data doesn't back up those ridiculous assertions. No one is claiming that Kaepernick was ever Joe Montana or Steve Young in a San Fran uniform, but the facts are he completed 60% of his passes and had a very solid 71/31 touchdown to interception ratio. In 2016 he threw 16 touchdowns to only four interceptions. What this means is the arguments that he was "figured out" by teams in the league and that he couldn't play don't hold water. There are 32 teams in the league and each team keeps at least two quarterbacks on its roster. That means there are at least 64 quarterbacks in the NFL. Among these quarterbacks are Brian Hoyer, Mason Rudolph, Jamis Winston, Marcus Mariotta, Joe Flacco, Baker Mayfield, and many others who not even a complete idiot can logically claim are better than Kaepernick. And when I say not better, I mean their statistics don't compare and they certainly don't match Kaepernick's proven ability to make plays with his ability to run with the ball (for example, compare Kaep's running stats with those of Winston's or Mariottas). Is this saying Kaepernicks an elite quarterback? Of course not, but without question, he's qualified to be playing in the NFL today.
With a pardon to the non-sports fans who were forced to wade through the last few paragraphs here, the football background is important because the Kaepernick haters are using those arguments to justify why he isn't playing in the NFL when the real reason these people are against him has nothing to do with his playing ability because if that was true they would be lobbying equally as hard to get all of the sub-par quarterbacks I named and others out of the league. In truth, no one cares how bad a quarterback is unless that quarterback is performing poorly for the team they follow. So, why the universal hatred and justification for Kaepernick being without an NFL job? Plain and simple, the answer is white supremacy. Misinformation about white supremacy is the dominant element today. Everyone has a lot to say about it, but virtually no one has bothered to do any comprehensive study and organizing against it. Of course, like anything, those of us who have done this work have developed some pretty astute skill sets at being able to breakdown and analyze events around the implementation of white supremacist activities. For instance, we know that the bulk of the opposition against Kaepernick is based in the fact that this African slave had the audacity to call out the master (the police) for its mistreatment of the slave population. This sick and dysfunctional perspective explains the "just play sports and shut up" refrain because the same people saying that to Kaepernick are not saying the same thing to Europeans and/or Africans who represent the interests of European capitalism who articulate talking points that advance white supremacy e.g. Ted Nugent, Curt Shilling (former Major League Baseball pitcher), Clint Eastwood, and a series of other European entertainers, athletes, etc., who speak in support of the capitalist/imperialist white supremacist patriarchy. None of these people have ever told Curt Shilling to shut up. Now, their response to that last statement will be to say none of those white celebrities were articulating their views while working, but that's another sham white supremacist argument. Those people are supporting the system in power so they obviously have no need or requirement to protest against that system. As a result, after the games and/or concert interview provides for their propaganda needs (despite the fact people like Nugent have a long history of using their concerts to announce their backward political views, yet these Kaepernick critics are crickets on criticizing this when it happens). On the other hand, Kaepernick is protesting the very institution he works for. I realize that even he may attempt to say that's not the case, but he didn't choose the national anthem randomly. The reason he chose it to display his protest is because the anthem is a part of the contradiction. The entire lie that the U.S. is a free and democratic country, like the song promotes, is clearly a lie if the state sanctioned employees for the country can kill Africans and others with impunity. So, Kaepernick, whether he meant it or not, cannot just be protesting specific police killings when he doesn't acknowledge the U.S. flag and anthem. He and others are saying this country is based on injustice and that means the police, social services, the flag, the military, the anthem, everything. So, he is protesting his job and he and the others should be protesting the NFL. This is a league that has encouraged an environment where Kaepernick is hated for making a principled stand. He didn't violate any of their laws. He didn't harm and threaten to harm a single soul. In fact, he quietly protested. He even modified his protest (which, as I said, he shouldn't have done). Meanwhile, the NFL harbors players who brutally physically abuse women and all of these losers combined don't receive a fraction of the hatred directed at Kaepernick. What else is any critically thinking person going to conclude from this insanity except that the problem isn't Kaepernick's quarterback skillset. It isn't that he protested "wrongly." The problem is that he dared protest at all. That any African would dare speak out against this great plantation. The slave master (and all those who aspire to be slave masters e.g. capitalist shot callers), is angry with these rebellious slaves. In 1819 this anger translated into beatings, burnings, lynchings, etc. Today, it still could mean those things, but most often for someone with visibility like Kaepernick it means alienation and castigation. Same old thing and those of us who understand this history have no trouble spotting it when it happens.
What all of this means is we don't know whether a team will offer Kaepernick a contract after his workout. Really, that's not really a priority to anyone besides him. What's important is that we recognize that the NFL doesn't care about Kaepernick or anyone like him getting the opportunity they deserve. Their dominant perspective is that we are owned property and we should just entertain them, especially those of us they pay well for that entertainment. The contradictions like the domestic abusers, they couldn't care less about. These players like everything in capitalism are commodities. To the NFL elite its like your pedigree dog tearing your expensive shoes up. If a team thinks Kaepernick can help them win and they are comfortable in believing their racist public has forgotten their anger against Kaepernick, they will sign him. The point is its the racist narrative that will drive whatever happens to him. Its that narrative that drives what happens to all of us. And, after all the noise, that's really what all of this amounts to.
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