Kaepernick Is Back, But What If His Protest Had Taken Different Route?

It just took four years and the brutal death of a handcuffed, unarmed black man. 

On Sept. 1, 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback roiled the sports world by kneeling during the national anthem before a preseason game against the San Diego Chargers in a protest against racial injustice, police brutality and systemic oppression in the United States. He said, too, he would donate $1 million to organizations supporting his aims. The protest followed one he made during an earlier preseason game with the Green Bay Packers.

The protest drew support from those who identified with Kaepernick’s cause and a backlash from others. President Barack Obama said he had a constitutional right to protest. Presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized his actions. 

Kaepernick continued the protests through the 2016 NFL season starting with the home opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football. A few other players, notably teammate Eric Reid, joined his cause. Other coaches, players and retired players disagreed.

By 2017, Kaepernick had opted out of his contract, but some NFL players continued to kneel during the anthem. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones locked arms and knelt with his players during a game in September 2017 before “The Star Spangled Banner,” but they stood while it was played. 

Four years later

Nearly four years later, Americans and people around the world get it. A new poll from Yahoo News/YouGov shows that 52 percent of Americans say it is “OK for NFL players to kneel during the national anthem to protest police killings of African Americans.” Four years ago, only 28 percent of Americans agreed. In 2018, the number was 35 percent.

The former NFL and University of Nevada Reno star, which Wikipedia calls an “American civil rights activist and American football quarterback,” certainly feels vindicated. Still, it took the death of unarmed and handcuffed George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in a video that shocked the world and ensuing protests from Atlanta to San Francisco to London and Berlin and Sydney for his cause to snowball.

Floyd’s death on May 25 unleashed a groundswell of reaction. The NFL admitted it was “wrong” to not listen to its players. NBA coaches, including widely respected Greg Popovich and Steve Kerr, became part of a committee to address racial injustice and reform. Statements of support from major sports franchises and leading sports figures such as LeBron James flooded in, but Jones and the Cowboys have been oddly silent. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott pledged $1 million to improve police training and address systemic injustice. NASCAR is removing the Confederate flag from events after a plea from the only African American driver in its Cup series.

The 6-foot-4 Kaepernick became a free agent after the 2016 season, in which the 49ers finished 2-14. Seven months later, he filed a grievance against the NFL, alleging that the league colluded to keep him from playing after his protest. He and Reid later accepted a confidential settlement with the NFL that was reported to be worth between $60 million and $80 million to Kaepernick.

Many now insist that an NFL team should sign him to demonstrate the league’s commitment to racial justice. “If the NFL is serious about being anti-racist, a team must sign Colin Kaepernick,” a headline in an opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times reads.

But would history have been different if Kaepernick had taken a different tack with his protest?

After sustaining injuries in previous seasons, Kaepernick agreed to a contract with a base pay of $11.9 million for 2016 — not a lot of money by professional sports standards but a windfall compared with what the average working American pockets every two weeks.

Leading a different protest

Now imagine a different scenario. At the start of the 2016 NFL season, envision that Kaepernick calls a press conference to announce that he is pledging $1 million, as he did originally, to address police training and racial injustice. Let’s say the money was divided among major U.S. cities. Let’s say one of the cities was Minneapolis. 

And he could have raised the stakes. Envision him saying, “I plan to increase this pledge by $1 million every year. The problems of racial injustice are real. They need to be addressed by radical improvements in police training and other methods starting immediately. I also plan to lead a peaceful protest in every city where we play this year to help give this cause greater visibility.”

In 2016, the 49ers played road games at Carolina, Seattle, Buffalo, Arizona, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Would that statement and those peaceful protests have made headlines? Probably. Would it have led to actions? Possibly. Would it have prevented the death of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor? It’s a stretch to second-guess history.

Now imagine Kaepernick as a unifying figure in 2016 rather than a polarizing one.

“Yeah, I still stand up for the national anthem,” he might have told a reporter after the press conference. “This country and the NFL have afforded me an extraordinary opportunity to provide for me and my family. But we have serious issues. That’s why I put my money where my mouth is. That’s why I’ll be working in communities every chance I get, in black and brown and white neighborhoods, and talking to police departments trying to fix what is obviously a major problem. And look for me leading the way in everyone of those protests in those cities.”

Successful athletes are like gods in American culture. They command respect. What they do and say has widespread influence.

Regardless, the civil rights activist and American football player who threw his first touchdown pass at age 9, is back in the spotlight.

It’s not difficult to imagine him trotting onto an NFL football field this fall. Nor is it difficult to imagine a crowd rising to its collective feet and applauding when he does — although ironically fans may be few or nonexistent when the NFL season begins.

Whether or not he ever wears an NFL helmet and pads again, Colin Kaepernick, now 32, has earned a niche in American history. How history will now unfold remains to be seen.

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Daniel Behringer is a long-time Las Vegan. Follow posts at doublegutshot.com. On Twitter, @DanBehringer221.