"He gave them a method and a language" - Senior sports writer lauds Colin Kaepernick's influence on African Americans
Colin Kaepernick's stand or, in this case, kneel against racism may have cost him his career in the NFL, but it elevated him, making him a real civil rights hero.
His influence on African American society has encouraged other young people to stand up against racism, according to Dave Zirin, who has come out with a new book on the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback called "The Kaepernick Effect."
Zirin has high praise for Kaepernick.
"I had to ask it just because the range went from a lot of young people who said, 'You're damn right. I feel vindicated because I was all alone on that team, taking a knee, and now I'm walking out my door, and there are 20,000 people, and then other people who are saying, I will never feel vindicated. As long as there's injustice in this country, there is no vindication. It doesn't exist for me, as long as the police are getting away with murder, as long as you have, you know, as long as you have immunity from all the crimes that they may commit, you know, so that there was a big range, but the one consistent thing, which to me was again, just such a terrific eye opener, is a lot, not all of them, but a lot of them when they took that knee as a high school student, they'd never done anything before. "
Zirin continues to say that Kaepernick has influenced a generation of kids to stand up for what they believe in.
"They were basically, you know, putting themselves out there for everybody to tease, everybody to mock, you know, and anybody out there who remembers being a teenager knows how difficult that is. But fast forward two, three, four, five years to 2020, four years at the height to 2020. In the summer, they have their street organizers; they're rallying people. They're getting their family members out to protests; they've been fundamentally transformed. And why were they transformed? They weren't transformed because they loved this quarterback in San Francisco named Colin Kaepernick. They were transformed because Colin Kaepernick gave them a method and a language by which they could protest and affect change."
You can have Kyle Rittenhouse. I’ll take Colin Kaepernick.
Colin Kaepernick's stance also encouraged other professional athletes
Colin Kaepernick has influenced this generation of professional athletes to take a stand as well.
Athletes like LeBron James and several other NBA superstars took hard stances against racism, especially during the 2020 season, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and even stepping away from playoff games when Jacob Blake was shot seven times by the Milwaukee police.
Welcome to Ann Arbor, @Kaepernick7. We appreciate your courage and sacrifices to help our country live up to our promise of equal justice under law. twitter.com/UMichFootball/…
Some may not like Kaepernick, but there is no doubt his influence will have more of an effect on the world than his play ever did.