A Nation forced to change
As I watched the Kansas City Chiefs win Super Bowl LIV over the San Francisco 49ers on February 2nd, it dawned on me. Suddenly I was reminded of the last time the 49ers were in the Super Bowl – it was 2013 and they fell short 34-31 to the champion Baltimore Ravens.
In looking back, it was hard to believe that it was seven years ago. I was at Met Life Stadium to watch the 49ers play the Jets when I got my first real look at the quarterback that led the 49ers to that 2013 Super Bowl XLVII.
At 7:32 in the first quarter Alex Smith, the starting quarterback for the 49ers that season was pulled to the sidelines as the backup quarterback came in for his first touch of the game. Tall and lanky number seven ran wide left for an explosive 17 yard gain. Coach Harbaugh replaced the rookie with starting quarterback Alex Smith immediately after the run that caught the Jets off guard.
On his second possession number seven showed his arm airing the ball out 50 yards on an incomplete pass off the hands of receiver Randy Moss.
The backup quarterback was drafted 36th overall in the 2nd round of the NFL 2011 draft out of Nevada where he threw for 82 touchdowns and ran 59 into the end zone.
Number seven was called back in for his third touch of the game. Facing a third down and six at the seven yard line, number seven – Colin Kaepernick ran wide left again just as he did on his first possession. A true play of beauty as Keapernick ran in untouched for what was to be his first career touchdown.
San Fran went on to win the game 34-0 over the Jets as the backup QB rushed a most effective five times for 50 yards, including that first touchdown of the game. He was explosive and unstoppable as he made his introduction to the NFL.
After suffering a concussion midway through the 2012 season, Alex Smith lost his job to the younger rookie QB Kaepernick. Under center, Kaepernick took San Fran to a 5-2 record for the remainder of the season and went on to win the NFC championship before falling short in Super Bowl XLVII to the Baltimore Ravens.
But this isn’t a football story- this is a story about a leader and a true role model that used his platform at the top of the NFL to advocate against injustice and to give a voice to those that had no one to speak for them.
At first Kaepernick all alone started the protest kneeling during the national anthem before being joined by teammate Eric Reid who knelt alongside him. Then 49ers teammate Eli Harold joined the pair and quickly players around the league began taking a knee. In one game the entire team known as America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys were joined by coaching staff and owner Jerry Jones locked arm in arm taking a knee in solidarity.
But then, President Donald Trump riled up his crowd at one of his pep rallies goading half the league into Kaepernick’s corner: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” Trump said, “when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field, right now, out? He’s fired.’”
And just like that it’s been four years since the end of the 2016-2017 season that Colin Kaepernick has not played a game in the NFL. His peaceful protest of kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice drew the ire of not only league owners but President Donald Trump as well. Kaepernick’s former teammate Alex Smith can’t understand how such a talented quarterback can’t find a job in the NFL.
Colin Kaepernick was at the top of his game when he asked the NFL and the world to care about the lives of black people. But America wasn’t ready to listen and by 2017 the NFL effectively banned him from their platform.
In 2016 Colin Kaepernick responded to why he began taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said. “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.”
Now that America is showing it’s anger and taking to the streets to protest, something has caught the attention of a nation and the world. If you can ex-out the looters and those that are out to vandalize it would appear that America is falling backwards but in fact it is moving forward to a place of more equality and justice for all.
The uprisings have even prompted NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to jump on the sympathy bandwagon and put out an empty statement claiming that his league is “saddened” by the recent events. Goodell’s statement can only be taken as disingenuous and hypocritical. Roger Goodell didn’t support Kaepernick who dealt with his share of cat calls from reactionary and mainly white fans, owners, and Trump calling him out for being un American and effectively banned him from the sport.
Earlier this year, Eric Reid filed a grievance against the NFL and its teams, alleging they colluded to punish him for his role in the early days of what the league now called social disobedience. The Carolina Panthers recently signed Reid and Colin Kaepernick was the first to congratulate him tweeting, “He was the 1ST person 2 kneel alongside me. Eric is a social justice warrior…Congrats 2 my brother….”
Recently, Eric Reid, who knelt beside Kaepernick, tweeted, “I see that a lot of y’all think that it takes money to get justice. It does not. It takes money to facilitate injustice. Justice is easy, the system chooses not to give it.”
Fast forward to present day America. Our lives around the globe have been turned upside down by the global pandemic covid-19 when a video surfaced in May of a young black male, Ahmaud Arbery, out for a jog in South Georgia. Mr. Arbery was cut off by a father and son duo in their pick up truck. The video clearly shows Arbery tried to avoid them by running in the other direction. While the father, a retired officer, was getting his gun the son fatally shot Mr. Arbery with a shotgun on February 23rd.
On March 13th, Breonna Taylor died in her sleep when police stormed into her home and exchanged as many as 22 gunshots with Mrs. Taylor’s boyfriend.
The last death at the hands of police was that of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The brutal video of a Minnesota police officer kneeling on George Floyds neck while handcuffed for nine minutes leading to yet another unacceptable death at the hands of a police officer. The latest video was the final tipping point that set off a rage in America that has ushered in a week of protests and unrest throughout the streets of a nation that is angry and has had enough.
We needed to see the videos to now look back at just how justified and noble #7 was in the cause he has sacrificed his promising career for. Most of us had forgotten Colin Kaepernick. Yes, there was September 24, 2017 when the entire Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars team kneeled in protest at London’s Wembley Stadium. This sparked player protests during week three of the NFL’s 2017 season.
After the recent brutal deaths of black Americans led millions to take to the streets on a daily basis, professional players of all sports are stepping forward and letting their voices be heard. Going forward we will surely see more pro sports players, team staff, owners, and league officials coming forward in providing a platform for the cause.
When we look back on this time in our history, Colin Kaepernick will be the one that broke through the doors first in leading a nation to change.
After leading the 49ers to consecutive NFC championship games and one Super Bowl, Colin Kaepernick was rewarded with a record seven-year, $126 million contract in 2014. He played just three seasons under the contract and went on to make a little more than $39 million from the deal before being banished from the league.
America didn’t want to listen to Kaepernick four years ago but as more and more people take to the streets demanding change the nation no longer has the choice but to listen.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
