Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick is a former professional American football quarterback known for his significant contributions to both sports and social justice activism. Born on November 3, 1987, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was adopted and raised in California, where he excelled in athletics and academics. Kaepernick played college football at the University of Nevada, Reno, and made history as the first NCAA player to throw for over 10,000 yards and rush for more than 4,000 yards during his collegiate career. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in 2011 and led the team to Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
Kaepernick became a polarizing figure in 2016 when he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and systemic racism against African Americans. This act of protest sparked nationwide discussions but also led to accusations of being blackballed by the NFL, as he was not signed by any team after opting out of his contract following the 2016 season. Despite the controversy, Kaepernick continued to advocate for social justice, founding the Know Your Rights Camp and partnering with organizations to empower marginalized communities. His activism gained renewed attention amid the protests following George Floyd's death in 2020, solidifying his legacy as a prominent figure in the fight against racial injustice.
Colin Kaepernick
Football player
- Born: November 3, 1987
- Place of Birth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Place of birth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Education: University of Nevada, Reno
Significance: After establishing himself as a talented American football quarterback, leading the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, Colin Kaepernick became increasingly politicized, a process culminating in his decision to first sit, and then kneel, during the US national anthem played before games. The purpose of his protest was to call attention to social injustice, particularly police killings of African Americans. He subsequently went unsigned as a free agent, leading to accusations that he was being frozen out by the National Football League (NFL). Kaepernick continued to work as a social activist, drawing renewed interest in 2020 amid widespread protests against systemic racism and police brutality.
Background
Colin Rand Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on November 3, 1987, to a white mother, Heidi Russo, and a Black father who left his mother before Kaepernick was born. Russo, unable to afford to raise him, put him up for adoption and he was taken in by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, a couple who were already raising two biological sons and who had previously lost two infant sons to congenital heart defects. When Kaepernick was four, his father got a job at the Hilmar Cheese Company and the family moved to the central California city of Turlock.
In Turlock, Kaepernick excelled at both academics and athletics and, during high school, colleges began recruiting him both as a baseball pitcher and as a football quarterback. Kaepernick was interested in pursuing only the latter path, and he agreed to attend the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), which offered him a scholarship. While at Nevada, he was the team’s starting quarterback for most of his four years. He became the first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) player to throw for 10,000 yards and rush for 4,000 yards. His senior year, he led the team to a 13–1 record. During his college years, Kaepernick also pledged an African American fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, as part of his growing interest in African American history and culture, an interest that would fuel his later activism.
Athletic Career
After graduating from UNR, Kaepernick entered the 2011 National Football League (NFL) Draft, where the San Francisco 49ers selected him in the second round. He spent his 2011 rookie season as the backup to starting quarterback Alex Smith, attempting only five passes. In 2012, however, Kaepernick got his chance when Smith was injured and suffered a concussion in the middle of a week-ten game against the St. Louis Rams. Kaepernick was then moved into a temporary starting role for several games until Smith returned, but he performed so well that he ended up keeping the job. His unique combination of passing skills and the ability to run the football brought a new dimension to the team. Kaepernick especially excelled in the playoffs that year, outdueling the Green Bay Packers’ star quarterback Aaron Rodgers in one game. Only in the 2013 Super Bowl did Kaepernick falter, unable to score a touchdown at first-and-goal from seven yards out in the final minutes of the game. The Baltimore Ravens won 34–31.
The next season Kaepernick’s on-field success continued, as he led the 49ers back to the playoffs. However, he began to receive criticism in some quarters for his tattoos, his unwillingness to reconcile with his birth mother, and other perceived inadequacies. The once forthcoming player became taciturn with the media and gave off an impression of sulkiness. Although he signed a six-year contract extension with the 49ers before the 2014 season—potentially worth $126 million—Kaepernick proved to be less successful then he had been in the past. In 2014, the team went 8–8 and missed the playoffs, leading to the departure of coach Jim Harbaugh. The next season, new coach Jim Tomsula benched Kaepernick after the team started 2–6. Before the 2016 season, Tomsula was replaced by new coach Chip Kelly, who named Blaine Gabbert the starter over Kaepernick.
Around this time, Kaepernick began educating himself seriously about African American history, auditing classes at the University of California, Berkeley. As social media brought the frequency of police killings of unarmed black men to the foreground of public consciousness, Kaepernick took to social media to register his dissent. This new politicization carried over to the football field, where Kaepernick began sitting for the national anthem during preseason football games. No one noticed the first two times he sat, but on August 26, 2016, a photographer captured him sitting and, when asked by journalists about it, Kaepernick explained his reasons, discoursing at length on the state of race relations in the country. Throughout the rest of the season, Kaepernick continued to protest, kneeling during the anthem. He was soon joined by other players across the league who shared his outrage. Kaepernick’s protest proved to be controversial, as many pundits, fans, and politicians accused him of disrespecting the United States and its military, although Kaepernick said his intent was to make the country better.
Kaepernick took back the starting job for the 49ers midway through the 2016 season and played well. After the season, however, he opted out of his contract, and no team elected to sign him. Many commentators felt that Kaepernick was being blackballed for his political views. In October 2017, along with former teammate Eric Reid, he filed a grievance against NFL owners, claiming collusion to keep him out of work. In February 2019 the NFL settled with Kaepernick for an undisclosed amount. Throughout the event, Kaepernick remained largely silent publicly.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick turned his energy toward efforts to educate and empower young people of color for free, creating the Know Your Rights Camp campaign and making ample donations to grassroots activist groups. He garnered many accolades, including winning the 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. In 2018, the sports-apparel company Nike announced that Kaepernick would be the face of their thirtieth anniversary Just Do It campaign. The announcement drew a backlash from some conservatives, with some people boycotting the company.
In November 2019 a special NFL workout was planned for Kaepernick, in which representatives from every team in the league would be able to see him in action in order to potentially offer him a contract. However, the event quickly went awry, as Kaepernick claimed he was given just hours to decide whether to agree to the plan. He also objected to the workout being closed to the media and took issue with legal details of the waiver he was required to sign. At the last minute Kaepernick chose not to attend the event and instead held a smaller, public workout which drew scouts from only a few teams. The incident further contributed to the public's polarized view of the quarterback.
Kaepernick and his history of protest attracted fresh attention in 2020, as widespread social unrest broke out following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mass demonstrations across the country focused on many of the same issues Kaepernick had previously highlighted, such as police violence against Black people, systemic racism, and the complex racial history of the United States. Media coverage of social justice awareness in the sports world grew increasingly positive, and in June 2020 NFL commissioner Roger Goodell officially announced that he encouraged teams to sign Kaepernick. The following month Kaepernick and his media organization, Ra Vision Media, signed a partnership with the Walt Disney Company aimed at developing a variety of content exploring issues of race and social justice, including an ESPN series about the quarterback's own story.
Impact
Colin Kaepernick used his platform as a professional athlete to raise nationwide awareness of the racist aspects of the US criminal justice system, particularly policing. Despite generating considerable controversy, he opened up new avenues of protest and inspired other activists.
Personal Life
Kaepernick began dating radio host Nessa Diab in 2015. He is a devout Christian.
Bibliography
Bien, Louis. “Super Bowl XLVII: Colin Kaepernick Shines in Losing Effort.” SBNation, 4 Feb. 2013, www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/2/4/3949488/super-bowl-2013-colin-kaepernick-49ers. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Branch, John. “The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick.” The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/sports/colin-kaepernick-nfl-protests.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
"Colin Kaepernick, Disney Announce Partnership Deal." ESPN, 6 July 2020, www.espn.com/nfl/story/‗/id/29417850/colin-kaepernick-disney-announce-partnership-deal. Accessed 8 July 2020.
“Colin Kaepernick Stats.” Pro-Football-Reference, www.pro-football-reference.com/players/K/KaepCo00.htm. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Draper, Kevin, and Ken Belson. "Colin Kaepernick and the NFL Settle Collusion Case." The New York Times, 15 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/sports/nfl-colin-kaepernick.html. Accessed 4 Apr. 2019.
Frost, Michael. “Perspective | Colin Kaepernick vs. Tim Tebow: A Tale of Two Christians on Their Knees.” The Washington Post, 24 Sept. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/24/colin-kaepernick-vs-tim-tebow-a-tale-of-two-christianities-on-its-knees/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
"NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: I 'Encourage' a Team to Sign Colin Kaepernick." ESPN, 15 June 2020, www.espn.com/nfl/story/‗/id/29315784/encourage-team-sign-colin-kaepernick. Accessed 8 July 2020.
Rosenberg, Michael. “Colin Kaepernick Is Recipient of 2017 Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award.” Sports Illustrated, 30 Nov. 2017, www.si.com/sportsperson/2017/11/30/colin-kaepernick-muhammad-ali-legacy-award. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.
Wagner, Kyle, and Neil Payne. “Yes, It’s Strange That Colin Kaepernick Doesn’t Have a Deal Yet.” FiveThirtyEight, 29 Mar. 2017, fivethirtyeight.com/features/yes-its-strange-that-colin-kaepernick-doesnt-have-a-deal-yet/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017.