Colin Kaepernick’s anthem protest was a polarizing moment for NFL fans.
Now that Kaepernick is jobless, he’s realizing he also polarized the people who are his prospective employers.
Kaepernick isn’t being blackballed specifically for his protest and radical leftist views, but that baggage coupled with mediocre-at-best play make him not worth the price tag…and he just took on more baggage.
In light of the acquittal of the police officer in the Minnesota shooting death of Philando Castile, Kaepernick compared cops to the antebellum slave patrols that captured runaways.
From Pro Football Talk:
The ongoing unemployment of Colin Kaepernick raises plenty of important questions regarding truth and lies and right and wrong in the NFL. But Kaepernick has done himself few favors when it comes to nudging public opinion in his favor.
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All we’ve heard from Kaepernick came from the well-timed leak to Adam Schefter that Kaepernick will stand for the national anthem in 2017.
“Kaepernick no longer wants his method of protest to detract from the positive change he believes has been created,” Schefter wrote one week before the start of free agency. “He also said the amount of national discussion on social inequality — as well as support from other athletes nationwide, including NFL and NBA players — affirmed the message he was trying to deliver.”
Kaepernick has never said that directly, however. Kaepernick has publicly said nothing at all about his unemployment, his football objectives, his plans (or lack thereof) to engage in further public gestures or statements on the sideline, in the locker room, on the practice field, or during games. Apart from telling Shannon Sharpe that things being said publicly about his contractual expectations ($9 million or $10 million for 2017) aren’t true, Kaepernick has provided no facts regarding what he wants or expects.
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We do know that he still has concerns about the interactions between the police and African-Americans and people of color, based on the tweet he posted in response to the acquittal of the officer who shot and killed Philando Castile.“A system that perpetually condones the killing of people, without consequence, doesn’t need to be revised, it needs to be dismantled!” Kaepernick said, with a photo of a modern-day police badge next to a “Runaway Slave Patrol” badge. Apart from giving those who already dislike Kaepernick’s views more ammunition for doing so, his tweet should invite speculation as to whether what was leaked to Schefter in early March still applies in mid-June, and whether the outcome in the Castile case makes Kaepernick inclined to kneel during the anthem, again.
No head coach or owner wants to deal with Kaepernick’s nonsense (and yes, it is nonsense) as the backup quarterback; the backup quarterback is supposed to be the least controversial player on the team.
As for his views, most of it sprang from Kaepernick taking a class at Berkeley last year during the off-season, and it appears he’s bought into the leftist ideology wholesale.
Kaepernick talks about ending oppression, yet wears a t-shirt glamorizing Fidel Castro, a brutal dictator who killed and imprisoned dissidents, as well as publicly shamed and antagonized homosexuals.
Kaepernick talks about enacting change, but didn’t even bother to vote in local elections.
Kaepernick’s latest tweet tells us exactly what he’s all about–revolution. It’s the staid battle cry of the left. He wants to “dismantle” the system…but replace it with what?
Kaepernick doesn’t have the answer. He hasn’t yet finished reading “Das Kapital.”
But it looks like he’ll have plenty of time to read this upcoming fall.