Last night SF 49er Colin Kaepernick played his first football game in over a year and well he sucked. As he should, his decision making and conditioning are non-existent. I hope he can regain his professional form we all saw a few years back.
What was more newsworthy was that Colin made a political statement by not standing for the National Anthem. He hasn't stood for any of the preseason games so far.
I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.
This is not something that I am going to run by anybody,” Kaepernick said. “I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. . . . If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”
It's clear that Kaep is upset with the government murders of unarmed black Americans. Rightly so, no other modern country citizenry would stand to allow their own people to be murdered and accept police excuses such as "feared for my life, reaching in a waistband, gesturing toward a weapon, lunged, didn't mean to shoot you I was actually trying to save you."
But what do we do in America....we mock the Black Lives Matter group with Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter slogans. Police sympathizers suggest that Black Americans kill other black Americans which is said for nothing more than to shift blame on the victims.
I salute Kaep for ignoring punishment, endorsements and standing up for his 1st amendment right on an issue that should upset more Americans.