Kaepernick: The New Ali

If the vast majority of Black people in America (notice how I said not all) do not boycott the National Football League this upcoming season... we are lost as a people like for real for real. Colin Kaepernick, a professional athlete and multimillionaire, stood for something last season.

He saw the blood on the hands of the very people who are sworn to give us justice, not the opposite. He heard the hypcorisy in our national anthem (the second stanza is universally left out when sung publicly because it describes reclaiming black slaves from the British enemy).

He looked at our Nation's Flag and realized how could our government stand by the claim of "Home of the free," when so many of our non-white brothers and sisters have routinely been treated as less than human.

Colin Kaepernick stopped sipping that 'NFL Kool-Aid' to become sober and clear-headed enough that he needed to take off his 'millionaire blinders' (that all black celebrities and athletes are required to wear once they sign on the dotted line) as well... in order to see and hear what was really going on in America's cop-abused, Black communities.

Also, statistically, Kaepernick had a hella decent season last year (click to see). Furthermore, the guy is only 29-years old and is HEALTHY! Plus, he was one throw away from winning the Super Bowl back in 2013 and went to the NFC Championship twice in a row (2014 and 2015) until things started going to shit for him with coaches. Even still, with the numbers he put up last season, nobody can tell me Kaepernick isn't good enough to be a backup QB on any team in the NFL at the very least.

Kaepernick's silent protest of kneeling during the national anthem ceremony (which takes place before each NFL game) was the finest act of protest I have ever witnessed. I wasn't around for neither the nonviolent nor armed protests by the Black Leadership in those time periods... but I know men like Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Harry Belafonte, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and others... all stood together when the White American hate machine targeted Ali for his unyielding refusal to fight in the Vietnam War for a country that didn't respect his rights as an American citizen—not even a little bit.

Most of us (Black Americans and some non-Blacks as well), who know of Ali's protest against the US Military Draft in 1966, love and respect Ali for telling a pissed off White America to, basically, go fuck themselves until they get over their racist 'butthurtedness' and treat people of all colors with dignity and fairness and respect, if they expect them to be 'patriotic' and 'selfless' in return in times of war.

Colin Kaepernick is, essentially, doing the same thing, only he is standing opposite of police brutality against black and brown people in America. He's doing something most wealthy Black people are too afraid to do because White America, by and large, does not like to hear people it used to overtly and terribly oppress (i.e. Blacks, Women, Jews, the LGBTQ, immigrants, Arabs & Muslims) stand up for themselves without fear or doubt. Although, Kaepernick does not possess the same level of success and fame Ali had at the time of his protest. It is fair to say, though, that he is garnering the same level of notoriety Ali did, or is very much close to doing so.

One can assume that most of the NFL owners have already decided Kaepernick is a liability due to the traditional White conservative fanbase of the NFL. However, at the same time, 68-70% of NFL players are BLACK. And that includes franchise and soon-to-be franchise players like Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, and Dak Prescott... and that is just the quarterback position. Black players also make up a large number of running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs, and offensive and defensive linemen. And guess what? Most of the star players in non-QB positions are black as well. So there's my little rundown of the NFL (race-wise), a league hampered by criminal behavior and authoritarian-like oversight (Fuck you, Roger!)

Moving on...

So, the point is, Colin Kaepernick is, basically, the Muhammad Ali of today. We may never be able to refer to him as a "champ" like our parents and grandparents were able to with Ali. But we can certainly recognize him as the warrior that he is... for social justice.

As the NFL season rolls closer to its starting date, Kaepernick remains unsigned despite tallying 16 pass touchdowns with only 4 interceptions. And he did it while playing on an atrocious football team. By not signing Kaepernick, the owners of the 32 NFL teams are telling you and me that Black People don't matter (to them).

So, if that's the case, why in the fuck should we support a sports league that does not support our right to live free of unwarranted, unprovoked, and unjustified police persecution and murder? The answer is simple: we shouldn't support it... not as players, coaches, assistant coaches, coordinators, trainers, analysts, waterboys, and certainly, not as fans.

Let's not be a slave to these rich cunts. Don't enrich the owners with your continued viewership, we should see what happens when the NFL stadiums look like Trump's inauguration turnout. And this goes out to anyone, not just my Black People, but rather, everyone...

If Kaepernick is not signed by the start of the regular season on September 7th... Then we should, and must, BOYCOTT THE NFL 2017 SEASON so we can see who blinks first.