Collin Kaepernick
 

SF 49ers QB Collin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem last night prior to their game with Green Bay.He stated "I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color" A few statistics first. With 1155 players in the NFL 68% are black, while in a distant second 28% are white. NBA 74.4% black to 23.3% white. All of these black players are making hig 6, 7, and eight figures annually. Currently Kaepernick signed a 6 year $114,000,000.00
Contract with the 49ers. With a $12,328,766.00 signing bonus, $61,000,000.00 guarenteed, and an average annual salary of $19,000,000.00. Kaepernick's logic I suppose we could say that the NFL and NBA have evolved into USA entities that "oppresses white people" purely on percentage of employment. What he seems to ignore is the fact that professional sports hires its players on their ability to do the job soley, not as Affirmative Action promotes by evening out the percentages based on race not ability. I will state without a doubt that Kaepernick would not be earning the big bucks without his "OPPERTUNITY" to play professional football in the USA. Oppression will always exist in some form or another but considering his status, his actions and comments are a bit hard to swallow.

Give me a break... He needs to grow up

He's always been a jerk, as he has to work to gain support in his own locker room........... nuff said.

I stopped worrying about what other people did, unless it directly impacted me, a long time ago.

Colin Kaepernick explains why he sat during national anthem - NFL.com

More on this.

Colin Kaepernick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A celebrity can make an argument about some cause and how much money he or she makes really has nothing to do with the point they are trying to make. A lawyer can make x amount of money and few people will determine the value of what she says on how much money she makes rather than what kind of argument she makes for his client. Or what a doctor says about some patient.

There are serious problems still with race relations in the United States. America Has a Big Race Problem | US News

He went to the University of Nevada, Reno like me and also was born in Milwaukee, WI.

Would be more interested though in why he is not playing better of late as a quarterback? Kaepernick, Blaine Gabbert mediocre in 49ers tuneup - NFL.com

My new favorite NFL team is whoever is playing San Francisco unless it is Atlanta.

He makes the money only because he is in his so called Oppressed USA. How much does he contribute to work on the problem?

His teammates do not like him. Maybe the first time the defense blitzes the Niners, a couple of offensive lineman will just step aside and watch. It has happened before.

Here's what I would like to see happen and I really believe it will happen once the season starts; some defense is going to call a blitz and his blockers are going to back off and let the defense paste his a** into the turf. Let's see how oppressed you are when they have to cart your whining, self centered, unAmerican ego off the field, you sniveling little overpaid turd.

Hope not. He does seem full of himself. I have no idea what kind of charities he supports. That would be interesting.

He should be let go. His value as a quarterback and as an American are questionable!!

That's kind of a stretch. The man cares about the rights and safety of African-Americans. What's wrong with that!

Athletic ability is not a cure for stupid.

You really think that? When he starts letting go of some of his millions and scratching out a check to help the "oppressed" minorities, I'll believe his intentions; he'll never do that and I'll never do that.

I detest what he did, but I will defend to the death his right to do it.

I do like to hear that. Freedom of speech should apply here in this situation. He will take flak from his teammates and fans and maybe even some of his sponsors but he should be able to take a stand for something he believes in strongly.

And remember the backgrounds of some of these NFL players. Some do come from some rather mean streets.

jcrazorbackfan you are on the absolute rite track. I would bench him if I was the coach, I would disregard him if I was his teammate, I would trade him if possible. The De Bartolo family has a hugh problem on their hands now. No doubt this guy has the Free Speech Rite to act like this but don't you think he would realize he is looked up to by many children in a land of gangs and the like. What a damn shame he couldn't voice his concerns another more constructive way.

There are a lot of NFL players who are going to go to work on this clown. Remember he used to kiss the muscle on his arm and act like he was ripping open his jersey to show you his heart when he score a touchdown? I hope he holds that memory. He will be murderlized by his opponents just like in the movie The Fifty Yard Line starring Burt Reynolds. He just spit in the face of every person serving our country. Without football and the money he has nobody would pay attention. He is a low life in my opinion.

Because he did not stand for the National Anthem? I do not see the connection that he is disrespecting our military. Our Congress, President, Supreme Court and the lawyers but not the military. It is the lawyers and bureaucrats who really rule the world.

This is the common mans belief that the Flag and our Country be respected. No need to dissect it any further. This is a forum not a court of law. I represented my belief that he is a very disrespectful individual who truly is not worth my time. If he gets to show his disrespect I wish to show that I do respect all the things that make our country great. Our service people fight for our freedom and the fact that he does not respect the National Anthem and our Flag is unforgivable.

A lawyer's thinking and way of breaking things down and steering their point of view is commendable when they are supporting your case but seem dopey when it is against things that the majority of American hold dear. If this idiot won a Gold medal in the Olympics and sat when the Medals were awarded that would be an epic failure. What the hell is different other that the venue? I rest my case.

I wouldn't be surprised to see other athletes or celebrities do the same or similar.

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There have been Olympic athletes who have done something like this and usually to voice concern about the treatment of blacks.

I volunteered in a Veterans Hospital for a year in Reno, Nevada and have read a lot of history including military bios and most soldiers fight for the people immediately around them and often dislike the military brass especially if they put them in harm's way often for their own glory.

I do not see most people in the US thinking that not standing at the National Anthem disrespects the military. It does disrespects the powers that be.

I love how Jesse Owens showed up the Nazis at the 1936 Olympics. Any patriotism towards Nazi Germany was something to be sneered at.

:agree:

When I hear the National Anthem, I think of that flag and how many courageous men and women made the ultimate sacrifice in defending it and what it stands for so, when you disrespect the National Anthem, in a way, you disrespect the people who died for that flag. That ****es me off to no end.

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I like your idea.

Colin Kaepernick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We will have to see how this plays out. With violence suggested against this man for voicing an opinion which is his right under the laws of this great land or if he plays football without fear that his offensive line-men do not protect him adequately.


Signs of the times.

I do agree with this statement that Colin Kaepernick did show a very unwise choice with where and how he voiced his feelings.

Off of one of my Facebook threads from one of the many news anchors I follow around the United States. The quote above is just one of he comments made by a woman after a news anchor brought up this subject.

There does seem a lot of disgust coming from the police officer Facebook pages as well for Colin Kaepernick's actions from some of the police departments and/or associations which I have on my Facebook account.

He is a Pinhead. No violence was wished or implied. Football is a game. People are people. Reality is reality. I am taking a guess that his teammates or opponents will straighten him out. I did a little checking last night and found out he didn't even play because of "A Dead Arm". Divine intervention is taking care of this already.

It is possible that a person who claims "Free Speech" and lets this kind of protest slip by under the Umbrella of Free Speech would possibly not cringe at the site of a flag being burned in the USA on our soil. If it's so bad here where you make that kind of money take an alternative route immediately and change the scenery.

I have always felt strongly about respect at all levels. My feelings were heightened five years ago when our son joined the Army. My Brother in law was in the service for 25 years and a nephew was in the Navy. Listen to The American Soldier by Toby Keith and feel the sacrifices that all service people have made for us and our country and the flag and then be patient with me please and explain why its OK for a punk like this to Disrespect the National Anthem and Flag.

It's totally his right. However, I would question what he actually does to help his community. Has he done anything over the years to protest black on black killings? Has he encouraged people involved to talk to police and not protect killers? Does he continually mentor youth in those communities? It is easy to make what really is a meaningless gesture rather than be part of the solution. All this gesture has done is divide people more.

His problem is that he is too stupid to realize that the people he believes are oppressed have oppressed themselves. The black population has squandered nearly 60 years of coddling, affirmative action, equal opportunity, hand outs, do overs, etc. Can anyone name a black-majority middle-class neighborhood or city that has a functioning school system, a low crime rate, and increasing home values? Anywhere? In the USA, UK, France, Canada, or anywhere in Africa? Anyone? They have one card and damned if they don't know how to play it. Yeah, I said all that.

Interesting discussion and lots of opinions. I for one will never watch a game he plays in again. And if other fans do the same with ticket purchases and television ratings he will be eliminated from the game.

Yes he has the right to do what he did, just as much as I have to never support watching him, products he endorses, or every supporting any team he plays for.

Vote with your wallet and he is done as a player.

FUN FACT: Most people saying Colin Kaepernick is unpatriotic for criticizing America do so while wearing red ball caps that say America isn't great.

You hit the nail on the head.

Colin Kaepernick Continues Charitable Work for Camp Taylor

He does work for kids with heart disease which should offset some rather thoughtless action he took on a football field.

African American Mayors Association

And there is this about African American mayors.

More power to 49ers' Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand against social injustice

I wanted to see what the Reno Gazette Journal had to say about Colin Kaepernick. He is a celebrity in Reno because of his football playing with my alma mater the University of Nevada, Reno.

America is brainwashed watching near worthless sports and reality TV. Thugs and freaks are glorified. It's sad.

Decent people are more and more the minority.

Sorry, I have no tolerance for this type of "protest", disrespecting our flag, our national anthem and our country.
Go march with BLM, make a speech at a community meeting, read to inner city kids, donate to the NAACP---but NOT THIS, it is not the time or the place.

My wife's ancestors came on the Mayflower. Her great great great great great uncle signed the Declaration of Independence. His cousin died in the Revolution. Lincoln commended her great great great uncle. Her second cousin went down on the Arizona. Her brother posed for the iconic Vietnam era photo of a soldier in silhouette holding a M-16 over his head. My father marched across Europe with Patton. My brother was in Da Nang. Our son has citations from President Bush and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

No, I have no tolerance for what he did---even if I ever agreed with his point of view, this was no way to express it.

That's quite a background for your wife. My mother's mother side is kind of like that with Stimson, Trueblood and Hopkins family trees going quite far back. My double cousin James did some intensive research when he managed a hotel or something like that near Plymouth MA but could not find the connection to the signer of the Declaration of Independence that supposedly was in our family tree.

It does seem like a bad choice to me for this quarterback to make but I am not an African American who has fought hard to get where I am.

The San Francisco 49ers are a team I have rooted for since the 1970s when we lived in Reno, Nevada.

I have no problem with free speech, and he certainly had the right to do it, but along with that comes consequences, hopefully not the violent type. There is a big difference in free speech between yelling "fire" in the middle of a desert as opposed to a crowded theater.