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Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial injustice. This caused controversy and polarized opinions. Kaepernick has remained unsigned since 2017, filing a grievance accusing the NFL of collusion to keep him out of the league. In 2019, the NFL arranged a private workout for Kaepernick but attached an unusual liability waiver, denied his request for transparency measures. Kaepernick moved the workout and demonstrated his skills publicly instead. Despite showing his talent, Kaepernick remains unsigned, leading many to believe the NFL fears his activism more than his abilities.

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211 views

Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial injustice. This caused controversy and polarized opinions. Kaepernick has remained unsigned since 2017, filing a grievance accusing the NFL of collusion to keep him out of the league. In 2019, the NFL arranged a private workout for Kaepernick but attached an unusual liability waiver, denied his request for transparency measures. Kaepernick moved the workout and demonstrated his skills publicly instead. Despite showing his talent, Kaepernick remains unsigned, leading many to believe the NFL fears his activism more than his abilities.

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Introduction: Believe in something, and sacrifice everything.

So many people shy away from


standing up for what they believe in because of the fear of consequences that may come with it.
August of 2016, Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers remained
seated during the national anthem at a preseason game. September 1, 2016 he decided to
kneel to show respect for the ones serving our country but also still protesting for police brutality
and social injustice against African Americans and people of color. He continued to do so for
every game. This act caused a huge uproar with the NFL organizations as well as fans. It was
all over social media and news platforms. Some were in support but many put labels on him as
disrespectful and blamed him for being the reason they stopped watching the NFL. The protests
grew into one of the most polarizing issues in sports. Kaepernick believed in justice and equality
and sacrificed not only his job but his reputation. September 3rd, 2018, Colin Kaepernick
tweeted his Nike advertisement with that exact saying. “Believe in something, and sacrifice
everything.” Colin Kaepernick did just that.
1. You’re probably sitting here questioning “Well Jasmine what is the relevance now? That
was three years ago?” That is true, and for these three years Colin Kaepernick has been
unsigned and jobless because of his choice of activism.
a. March of 2017 Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ners, making him
a free agent.
i. 49ner’s General Manager confirmed that Kaepernick was going to be
released anyway had he not voluntarily removed himself from the roster
and he hasn’t been signed since.
2. In October of 2017, Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL for essentially
blacklisting him.
a. Kapernick claimed to be denied jobs and unable to sign with any team because
he knelt during the singing of the national anthem before games. He and his
former teammate Eric Reid, who also followed the lead of Kaepernick to kneel,
accused the 32 teams in the NFL of colluding to keep them out of the league.
i. The NFL league tried to have the cases thrown out, though in August
2017, an arbitrator said there was enough evidence to allow the
grievances to proceed.
ii. A settlement was reached February 2018, which ended the grievance.
3. After all the commotion Kaepernick remained an unsigned free agent.
a. It was proposed to Kaepernick, an opportunity to have a private workout in front
of the 32 teams that would attend. The same teams that denied him for three
seasons. It is said by sources that Colin Kaepernick had two hours to accept.
b. The workout was to be held in the Falcons Stadium Saturday, November 16th,
2019.
i. Prior, Kaepernick was asked to sign a waiver that would give away his
rights to release any further claims of collusion since his prior accusation
as well as rejected the standard liability waiver from physical injury
ii. Kaepernick’s lawyers rejected what they called an “unusual liability
waiver” as a precondition.
iii. Colin Kapernick asked for a list of the personnel that would be there as
well as allowing media to attend and wanting to bring his own film crew to
the workout for transparency.
iv. The NFL denied any media or cameras in the workout raising questions
as to why and what were their true intentions.
4. If the NFL’s goal was to genuinely give Colin a chance to be signed to an NFL team the
document would have not just been specifically aimed to protect the NFL but also
clarifying the fact of his potential employment rights to be preserved.
5. Kaepernick took it upon himself to change the location of his workout the day of and
make it public at a highschool football, allowing media access to the workout, &
transparency about the videography.
a. There is so much distrust between the NFL and former quarterback who could
blame him for wanting an open and honest process.
b. The way the NFL proceeded to go about this whole situation it seems as if they
are more worried about distancing themselves from the blackball talk and the
accusations that they do not want Colin Kaepernick apart of the NFL league.
c. This workout can be twisted and used as a disingenuous attempt to say well they
gave him an opportunity to play for their own public relation purposes.
6. Colin Kaepernick’s athletic ability was made obvious that he is ready to play. He made a
comment that “The ball is in the NFL’s court.” Since his workout Kaepernick remains
unsigned and has yet to hear from any of the teams that attended.
Conclusion: Journalists are calling it a tug of war between the NFL and Colin Kaepernick. And
my question to you is why? Why are we keeping a 2x Western Athletic Conference offensive
player of the year, a quarterback who holds the NFL record for most rushing yards by a
quarterback in a single year as well as in a single postseason, out of a job. Clearly he doesn’t lack
in talent. The problem is fear. Fear that one person can make so much noise. Colin Kaepernick is
doing something that anyone with such a high platform should do. He used his reputation, his
public impact to make a difference. Why should he be punished for shining light on social
injustice in our country. We claim America to be a free and just country but minorities are still
fighting for rights. People of color , people who choose not to be blind to what’s right in front us
stand with Kaepernick and respect him. But if it isn’t affecting one personally or their people we
turn our backs and shame him for what he has done and what he is doing. Colin Kaepernick
kneels for equality, justice, and change we should not be punishing him and keeping him out of a
job but yet applauding him for doing so.

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