A decade after his protest against racial injustice made headlines around the world, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick says his activism remains as strong as ever, but his love for the NFL has faded.
Speaking with NBC News, the 38-year-old said he no longer watches the league, citing what he described as the NFL’s continued blackballing of him and its treatment of other players who joined the protests.
“I’m not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well,” Kaepernick said. “I watch college football.”
Kaepernick became a global symbol of protest during the 2016 preseason when he and then-49ers teammate Eric Reid knelt during the national anthem before a game.
Kaepernick had previously sat on the bench during the anthem earlier that preseason, but his decision to kneel alongside Reid quickly captured international attention.
Images of the two players on one knee while their teammates stood for the anthem spread around the world, turning Kaepernick’s protest into one of the most prominent demonstrations against racial injustice in American sports.
At the time, he told NFL Network, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the Super Bowl following the 2012 season, has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season. He and Reid later filed grievances against the NFL, alleging that league owners colluded to keep them out of the league. They reached a confidential settlement with the NFL in 2019.
Kaepernick has since devoted his time to initiatives such as Know Your Rights Camp, which aims “to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation
