Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick single-handedly led to the significant drop in NFL viewership after his anti-American stance of kneeling during the national anthem, which discredited and insulted thousands of veterans for their service to the United States.
And although there is a rumor that Kaepernick may be brought into a backup role for the Seattle Seahawks – one of the most liberal cities in the country – why do you think so many teams have refused to make him a part of their franchise? Because he’s too divisive and not worth the headache.
But you’ll never believe where they’re displaying the jersey he wore during the game of his first kneeling-in-protest to the American Flag.
USA Today reported:
“Matt Barkley’s No. 7 49ers jersey won’t get as much attention in 2017 as the one formerly worn by Colin Kaepernick.
That one will be featured in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution with the help of San Francisco’s team psychologist — and prominent sociologist — Harry Edwards.
Edwards recently forwarded the jersey and other items related to the former 49ers quarterback to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Last season, Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem became one of the country’s most polarizing stories.
From Jarrett Bell of USA Today Sports:
‘I said, Don’t wait 50 years to try to get some memorabilia and so forth on Kaepernick,’
Edwards told USA TODAY Sports. ‘Let me give you a game jersey, some shoes, a picture. … And it should be put right there alongside Muhammad Ali. He’s this generation’s Ali.’
The Kaepernick items are not currently on display, but the museum’s curator of sports, Damion Thomas, told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday that he expects new material in their collection will be rotated into exhibits in one to two years.”
What is everyone talking about? This guy isn’t an American hero.
Kaepernick disrespected the American Flag by kneeling, and now he’s a cultural icon and future-legend like Muhammad Ali?
Kaepernick wasn’t even that great of quarterback. He had one good year – four years ago – and still lost the Super Bowl.
And this writer has the audacity to compare Kaepernick’s kneeling to the American Flag with someone widely considered to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, who organized Olympic protests and refused to serve his country and go to Vietnam?
And Edwards even has book coming out soon about this.
USA Today continued:
“A half-century since he organized the Olympic Project for Human Rights – which culminated with the iconic image of sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising black-gloved fists on the victory stand at Mexico City in 1968 to protest inequalities of American life – Edwards, 75, still drips with passion as he reflects on the role and platform of sports as a conduit for social change.
Next week, the seminal book by Edwards first published in 1969, The Revolt of the Black Athlete, which details the Olympic movement, will be re-released (University of Illinois Press) with a new introduction and a tribute to Ali.
Kaepernick, meanwhile, is still a quarterback without a team. He is seemingly paying a price after sparking a movement with his anthem protest of police brutality and other social inequalities, which strikingly, reflect some of the same concerns expressed 50 years ago with the Olympic protests.”
This is a hyperbolic and horrendous analogy, because whether you agree with Ali’s protests or not, Kaepernick’s kneeling isn’t even in the same ballpark.
Heck, it’s not even in the same realm – because one is an all-time great and the other a likely all-time backup.