SUGGESTED READING # 7

Colin Kaepernick was the most important athlete of the decade

December 31, USA TODAY

Nobody could have seen the above sentence — the headline of this piece — coming. Ten years ago, Colin Kaepernick was a good college quarterback in a minor conference. His fascinating background — he’d been born and placed for adoption in Wisconsin, where a family that had lost two boys previously to heart defects took him in — was not yet well known.

Today you would need to work tirelessly to find an American who hasn’t heard of Kaepernick — and who hasn’t formed strong opinions about him in one way or another. He is one of the most polarizing figures in a polarized decade, driving debate everywhere from television to Twitter ..

My argument from early on — Kaepernick’s protest began in the preseason of 2016 — has been that it worked as intended. He sat, at first, and then kneeled during the playing of the national anthem precisely so that we would talk about the issues he wanted us to talk about: police violence directed toward black men and the systemic racism that enables it and shapes so much of how we live and have always lived in America.

The popular, cynical view is that nobody has ever changed their mind thanks to Facebook comment screeds but Kaepernick launched literally millions of these discussions.

Kaepernick’s protest also gave rise to other voices, even just within sports: Megan Rapinoe was an early adopter, kneeling during the anthem in September of 2016. Even after her breakout performance this year — in the World Cup, and as a voice fighting for the oppressed — she has lauded Kaepernick’s leadership and sacrifice…

For his part, Kaepernick has avoided the public light — unless he has control over how his image is used. He has donated at least a $1 million to various charities. He also signed with Nike and allowed the giant corporation to glom onto the authentic passions he stirred.

In late August of 2016, after he was first noticed sitting for the anthem, he gave an exclusive interview to the NFL’s Steve Wyche to explain his decision — “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 — but also showed clearly that he understood the stakes.

“I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. … If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”