Colin Kaepernick Reflects on a Decade of Protest and Ongoing NFL Battle
A decade after his 2016 anthem kneel, Colin Kaepernick discusses his upbringing, the backlash he faced, and his continued effort to return to the NFL.
Born into a white family in a predominantly white town, Colin Kaepernick endured a childhood incident of racial abuse that he kept from his parents, an event he says influenced his later life. Football offered him a space to explore his Black identity, eventually leading to a college career at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a 2011 draft by the San Francisco 49ers, where he reached the Super Bowl in 2013. Witnessing the fatal shootings of Mario Woods, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile spurred him to kneel during the 2016 national anthem, a protest that sparked intense backlash and resulted in his exclusion from the league after that season.
He sued the NFL owners for collusion, reaching a settlement in 2019, and now chronicles his experiences and ongoing desire to play again in his new memoir, "The Perilous Fight." In the interview he critiques media coverage that shifted focus from police violence to questions of patriotism, describes the NFL's punitive stance toward dissent, and shares concerns about letting children play contact football due to brain injury risks.
