Colin Kaepernick is unemployed, which has become a massive point of discussion. Kaepernick performed well-documented protests last year, during the 2016 NFL season, on the subject of institutional racism and particularly how the issue was manifested in recent police brutality cases. By kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before games, Kaepernick angered a large part of the population. Because the protest was to condemn systemic racism, a cause which is endorsed by nearly all reasonable Americans, Kaepernick came under fire for how he protested and not the reason behind his demonstration. Kaepernick not having been signed to a team yet, even as injuries continue to pile up as they inevitably do among NFL depth charts, has incited a continuing controversy which has touched on subjects larger and much more important than football. The discussion of Kaepernick and his protest, police brutality, and racism is a touchy one deserving of a nuanced discussion and an informed impression of recent events. Kaepernick has willfully and wrongfully not been signed because of his protest. My point will become clear with an in depth look at Kaepernick’s stats, history, and the reasons behind his protest. 

Given the wide range of the reactions to Kaepernick’s protest, there is importance in first examining Kaepernick as a person to better understand him and, by extension, his protest. Kaepernick was adopted young by a white family and grew up in Turlock, California. (Branch) Kaepernick had the unique experience of not truly fitting into black communites since he grew up in a white family, and standing out from white communities due to his skin color. After going to Nevada, the only school who offered him a football scholarship, Kaepernick’s interest in black culture grew. According to a former teammate John Bender, 

Finding an identity was big for him, because in some aspects in life, he would get the racist treatment from white people because he was a black quarterback. And some people gave him the racist treatment because he was raised by a white family. So where does he fit in all this?’” (Branch par. 23) 

A primary reason for his treatment and growing interest in African-American culture was because the young quarterback met many black teammates who had very different upbringings, which began to lead to serious change in Kaepernick as a person (Branch). 

As Kaepernick matured and evolved in his years at Nevada, he grew more and more interested in African-American history. (Branch) Kaepernick joined a black fraternity, which had rather time consuming rituals and studies of African-American history and culture, but preserved excellent grades. (Branch)  The whole time, despite all of the strains on his time, Kaepernick remained a fan and media favorite due to his friendliness. He was gracious with the media, and about as kind a person as one could be. Kaepernick’s interest and passion for learning more about black culture did not end with his time at Nevada.

As a professional, Kaepernick experienced great success early in his career, nearly winning a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick was one of the best young quarterbacks in the league, and the 49ers were legitimate Super Bowl contenders for a few years. In 2014, the 49ers went 8-8. (Branch) His and his team’s success fell apart rather quickly starting that year. In 2015, after Kaepernick’s coach Jim Harbaugh left, Kaepernick lost his starting job amid a bad start to the season. (Branch) In 2016 Kaepernick was merely a footnote for a while until his protest gained national attention. 

Throughout his NFL years, Kaepernick continued to learn more and more about black culture and history. One summer, Kaepernick even took a class at the University of California, Berkeley, on black representation in popular culture. (Branch) Throughout 2016, which was a year that saw many killings of black men by white police officers in police brutality cases, Kaepernick became increasingly outspoken on social media. (Branch) All of his increasing frustration with the racism going on came together and culminated with his protest during the playing of the national anthem. He was not alone. Eric Reid, a safety for the San Francisco 49ers, also knelt with Kaepernick.

Reid wrote as a guest for the New York Times, explaining why he and Kaepernick kneeled, and the cause behind their demonstration. Amid all of the deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers, Reid wanted to do something. He wanted to be sure whatever he did, however, was respectful. “I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what or how to do it. All I knew for sure is that I wanted it to be as respectful as possible.” (Reid par. 1) After consulting Nate Boyer, a veteran and a former NFL player, Kaepernick and Reid concluded kneeling would be an excellent way to speak out against injustice in a respectful way. (Reid) Their intention, as is stated by Reid in his article, was “…to speak for the voiceless.” (Reid par. 4) Despite their best efforts, Kaepernick and Reid infuriated a great deal of the American population. After voicing his puzzlement of how some of the population somehow still construes the protest as disrespectful, which was the opposite of his intention, a large segment from Reid’s article explains his and Kaepernick’s intentions well: 

It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest. (Reid par. 6)

 After iterating his love and pride for his country, Reid goes on to quote James Baldwin, “’exactly for that reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.’” (Reid par. 7) Reid is right, to those who love their country, the importance of calling out the systemic wrongdoings permeating the country cannot be understated.

Kaepernick should have expected backlash to his protest, as many people have understandably construed his protest as being disrespectful to the military. (Swaim) This is beside the point. Perhaps his protest was disrespectful despite his best intentions. Maybe Kaepernick should have found another way to protest, but multiple points are clear. Kaepernick and Reid clearly did not intend for their kneeling to be disrespectful to the military, the police in general, or to the nation as a whole. Kaepernick certainly could also have explained himself better, leaving him less open to severe criticism. Barton Swaim, for The Washington Post, explains some of Kaepernick’s shortcomings in his protest aptly: 

Kaepernick evidently has some strong views on this subject, but what are they, exactly? Does he believe, say, that most Americans are racists? That most police officers target African Americans for harassment? That the United States as a whole deliberately and systematically persecutes African Americans? Somehow I doubt he would agree with any of these things without qualification — and yet they are all rational inferences from his refusal to honor the flag of a ‘country that oppresses black people and people of color. (Swaim par.4) 

While I personally agree with Swaim to an extent, I also believe, whether imperfect or not, Kaepernick’s demonstrations and following comments were overall beneficial. When people ask athletes to “stick to sports,” which is indeed a common saying, they are, frankly, being quite ridiculous. Why should athletes be denied the opportunity to use their platform for good? They have special influence, and they should be able to use their image and message to spur positive social change. Granted, while they can also say negative or outright wrong things, it is their right nonetheless to put out any image or message they choose. So when a player such as Kaepernick is trying to use his platform to help ignite a discussion to push toward improvement in America, the best reaction is to forgive the flaws in his protest, and look instead at the core message. In Kaepernick’s case, that core message is inherently good. Racism will never completely die out, nor will America ever be perfect, but Kaepernick’s message to try to help his nation improve should not be overlooked because of the way his cause was demonstrated. 

On Kaepernick not having been signed, and by extension, the meaning coming from his continued unemployment, some simply argue to the reasoning of the quarterback does not deserve to be signed, based simply off of his ability. Colin Fleming explains in an article for The New York Times his opinion which is, in essence: Colin Kaepernick, as shown by his stats, is nothing more than a fringe quarterback at this stage of his career. His career completion percentage is below 60%, which is well below the average starter in the NFL. (Fleming) And in general, what made Colin Kaepernick great years ago was the novelty of his ability to pass and run. Even then, his strength was by far his running ability. As Kaepernick gets older, he will slow down. Also hurting Kaepernick is the fact that NFL defenses are much more prepared for quarterbacks such as Kaepernick, making his average to below average ability to throw from the pocket a hindrance to his career. All of this to say, Kaepernick is not even close to the star he used to be. What such realities do not mean is Kaepernick is completely useless. It is simply reality that Kaepernick is no longer close to a star. As Fleming mentions, however, Kaepernick is certainly good enough to be a backup. (Fleming)

Diana Goetsch writes that Colin Kaepernick has not been signed because he puts the NFL’s marketing scheme at risk. The NFL, she argues, has made patriotism its brand. Not only patriotism, she argues, but a restrictive form of patriotism preventing much criticism of the nation. (Goetsch) Indeed, the harm caused by the protest to the NFL’s marketing campaign is a big reason why Kaepernick has not been signed.  I think Goetsch makes good points throughout her article, but I also think the reason that Kaepernick has not been signed is not purely or primarily because of the damaged marketing he caused. Another reason remains: the NFL’s team owners are scared to lose fans and of the public perception that may follow signing Kaepernick.  Furthermore, not only would it bring a great deal of unhelpful controversy to the team, but it may make some fans desert the team during Kaepernick’s tenure. Not to mention the signing of Colin Kaepernick could cause locker room discord, which would almost definitely affect the team’s performance. The hope would be for teammates to respect opposing viewpoints of other teammates, but such harmony is not always the case. 

While I do think Kaepernick deserves, and should, be signed, there is one argument on his behalf which, in my opinion, is rather pointless and ineffective. John Feinstein, in an article for The Washington Post laments that Kaepernick has not been signed, while men convicted of crimes have resigned with teams. (Feinstein) Whether or not one holds the belief of certain players who have committed crimes having a chance to play again is an entirely different matter. Feinstein’s argument simply has no relation to Kaepernick’s situation. Despite my disagreement with Feinstein on the heart his argument, I do think one of the last statements of his article is very well put and a wise point. “Kaepernick is actually an opportunity for the NFL. All it takes is one team to say publicly: We may disagree with his tactics, but he’s committed no crime and we will judge him on talent alone. The NFL — like most sports franchises — loves to prove its collective patriotism with salutes to the military — paid for, at times in the past, by the military. What’s more patriotic than freedom of speech?” (Feinstein) Feinstein is right. While understandably easy to view Kaepernick’s protest as unpatriotic, a closer look reveals the point of whether or not he intended the demonstration to be patriotic, Kaepernick’s protest has some very patriotic ideals. Through voicing his displeasure with his country, Kaepernick was trying to improve America. Such criticism is a huge aspect of patriotism.

Kaepernick certainly did not intend for an excess of attention to be placed upon him when he began his protest. And although much productive discussion is hidden behind petty discourse when discussing Kaepernick, when an intelligent conversation is had on the embattled quarterback, a subsequent discussion of more important issues is inevitable. Colin Kaepernick and the racial problems prevalent in America now go hand in hand. Thus, some good has come out of what has largely been pointless arguing.  Although many fail to discuss serious issues when bringing Kaepernick up in casual conversation, an in depth discussion of his protest leads to discussion of racial issues in America as well as questions of patriotism versus vehement criticism. Such points bring me to my next point: no matter the flaws in Kaepernick’s protest and verbiage, his kneeling has helped, to a degree, to bring two large issues facing America to light. America struggles to move past pointless discussion to come together to find solutions to clear issues, and racism is one of the most pressing issues displaying so clearly this problem. 

As the NFL season rolls along, more quarterbacks continue to get injured. As a byproduct of the injuries, more free agent quarterbacks are being signed. None of whom have been Colin Kaepernick. Thus, it seems obvious a good part of the reason why Kaepernick remains unsigned is due to his protests. Such reasons are a reflection of the country. As Matt Bonesteel writes for The Washington Post, too much of Colin Kaepernick’s story and message is swallowed up by pointless sub arguments. (Bonesteel) Kaepernick’s gesture should not be a reason for not signing him, and his protest certainly should not outweigh the discussion of racism in America.  Rather than focusing on discussing the issues Kaepernick intended to bring into the spotlight, and how to solve them, people argue over whether the gesture was respectful or not, why he should not be signed, why he should be signed, and the like. Such chatter is useless, and needs to stop. And while Kaepernick certainly did not instantly solve anything, he did raise some awareness of current issues, and the public should strive to help correct such issues to the degree that they peacefully can. 

Kaepernick does not need to be signed. The NFL owners have the right to not sign Kaepernick. Kaepernick has made millions of dollars, and probably will be fine financially. The issue is as follows: plenty of people do not want Kaepernick to be signed and the public largely argues over Kaepernick himself, not his message. The American public struggles with friendly, or even respectful disagreement. Perfectly reasonable Americans have been justifiably offended by Kaepernick’s demonstrations, but his demonstration does not necessarily apply to the underlying message and certainly has nothing to do with his football ability. Kaepernick should be allowed to use the football-given platform he has earned to begin healthy conversation. Instead, the discourse he desires and the American public needs has been lost. Instead of discussing and finding ways to help curb the problem, people argue over things containing little value in the long run. Whether or not Kaepernick plays again in the NFL matters much less than the racial issues America has to deal with. The American public needs shake off lesser issues, and try to improve their nation. Kaepernick has not been signed primarily due to his beliefs, and while his treatment is wrong, his treatment is also not the main issue. The primary issue remains how easily America becomes distracted by meaningless discussion, which has unfortunately turned Kaepernick’s story into an accurate microcosm of the country at large. I love my country, and because of my love, I recognize the need for America to work united as a people to improve clear, horrible issues of the treatment of minorities receive in this country. Systemic racism and the symptoms the monster of racism has caused is what truly needs to be addressed.
