Dear NFL: Let’s Keep it Real About Colin Kaepernick
Dear National Football League,
This letter is not about the most prolific quarterbacks in the game…which QB has the best completion percentage or touchdown to interception ratio. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and current free agent, Colin Kaepernick’s body of work on the field speak for itself. He has been an elite player in the National Football League, the face of an organization, a proven winner, and still, has fuel in the tank to continue to perform at a high level athletically.
The media and sports fans are phenomenal at continually debating, ranting about and critiquing today’s modern day athlete. It is a familiar ritual, a fantasy experience and what our society frequently does and without remorse. These acts are comfortable for us.
We have become fixated, curious and borderline obsessed with stardom and these individuals. We put them on pedestals while religiously “keeping up” with their on the field performances and off the field daily lives. Our society praises them, ridicules them, lifts them up while quickly tearing them down.
So this letter is not about addressing storylines that allow us to stay comfortable and at peace. Because meaningful and transcending change can only transpire at the end of our comfort zones.
There is an elephant in the room at the NFL headquarters on 345 Park Avenue in New York City. This topic has plagued our society, disenfranchised a plethora of souls and turns conversations into awkward, silent, defensive and ferocious debates.
This elephant is race and the current tumultuous state of race relations, oppression and systemic inequality in our country.
Black athletes advocating and taking a stand against social injustices has had a long and rich history in our culture. Even when these athletes were faced with criticism and backlash as they had shifted out of their lane, challenging the status quo, these trailblazers understood that their activism had a profound impact in creating meaningful dialogue and bringing consciousness to injustices that were suffocating many lives.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Courageous acts by legends such as the late great Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be inducted into the U.S. Army in 1967, the 1968 Black Power salute by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics; and the social activism of countless of others such as Jack Johnson, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Doby, Jim Brown, Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe were vital declarations and moments in history as dire racial disparities and injustices were given a platform for discussion.
These same issues that were fought against back then still persist and are even more strategically packaged and pervasively intertwined within the infrastructure of our communities, institutions, and politics.
Colin Kaepernick who is continuing the legacy of social activism his predecessors laid the blueprint for still not been given the opportunity to join one of the 32 teams in the league.
This has absolutely nothing to do with his talent, athletic prowess, or production on the field.
Colin Kaepernick has not been signed because he showed resistance. He challenged the status quo. He exhibited defiance against America’s denial and lies. And he kneeled against the persistent, sweltering injustice and oppression our country strives to conceal and keep out of the spotlight consistently.
We hide and obstruct these true realities of race and inequality in America because it is uncomfortable. Uncomfortable to look within ourselves and challenge the role we play in perpetuating divisive rhetoric, policies, actions, and injustices.
It is evident in the streams of inescapable bigotry, hatred, and prejudice, this notion of looking within makes us extraordinarily uneasy and wary. Putting our biases, assumptions, stereotypes, and misconceptions up for a thorough review requires us to debunk our own fears, schisms, egos, and insecurities.
Our society puts great emphasis on symbols and patriotism such as standing for the National Anthem, yet our lack of humanity in our daily actions as a people goes against the sacredness of what many of these symbolic practices represent.
Renowned author and activist Dr. Maya Angelou once said…
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
The multi-billion dollar empire of the National Football League, from its ownership all the way down to its loyal and fanatic fan base has shown its true colors ever since Kaepernick started his silent, peaceful kneeling protest in 2016.
Blacks comprise of nearly 70 percent of the players in the NFL. Colin Kaepernick’s protest during the National Anthem where he exercised his fundamental rights was to bring attention, education, awareness, and action to a “country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
While our society has run away and tried to destroy that truth, it lives on. The prejudice, power, and privilege that has been passed down from one generational kin to another…lives on. The extracting of Black culture, dollars, and entertainment live on.
America’s flawed history captures the dehumanizing tyranny on the souls of black folk and people of color. The same racial demographic that makes up the majority of the 32 NFL team rosters.
Nelson Mandela, the legendary South African activist, and politician once asserted…
“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”
Instead of the NFL using its powerful and global platform to start a meaningful conversation around Kaepernick’s courageous action and concerns. The league has remained deathly silent, providing politically correct answers along the way and ineffective policy changes to keep investors, advertisers, front offices, and fans comfortable and from critically thinking openly and honestly examining oneself.
The league’s silence, inconsistent discipline, and at times clueless handling of suspensions when it comes to player’s destructive off the field character issues such as domestic violence and substance abuse, is immensely troubling.
Our culture and the NFL has validated the harm to oneself through drugs and the trauma to women through violence because no one is ever sincerely held accountable like we have seen with Kaepernick’s protesting case thus far. Player’s every offseason who have had detrimental incidents with drug abuse and domestic violence do not run into this kind of hostile barrier when finding a new team and a new city to call home. They are provided with an opportunity to play. Something that Kaepernick is still waiting for.
The lack of support and the condemning of Kaepernick’s actions truly puts into perspective the lack of empathy we have for Black lives and people of color when they are not producing on the field and providing entertainment. We root for them on Sundays yet are threatened and fearful of them on Mondays.
Colin Kaepernick has used his voice, intellect, platform, and influence, to inspire, empower, and educate the masses on prevailing issues and dire inequities. He has sacrificed his well-being to relentlessly focus on helping to “build a stronger generation of people that will create the change that is much needed in this world.” Yet he is being “blackballed” for this dominant and profound stance.
When we openly and sincerely reflect without fear and ego on what Colin Kaepernick has done and the social and civic work he continues to do with his foundation and “Know Your Rights Camp,” his actions should be praised not criticized.
Would you be selfless enough to risk your employment, income, or one of your greatest passions to give a voice to the voiceless and to take a stand against injustice?
Maybe the 32 teams and cities that represent the NFL are in search of a different type of leader. One they can control and mold into a box. One that would not dare to challenge the status quo and make team front offices, fans, league executives and partners uncomfortable.
For me, Colin Kaepernick represents the true essence of a transformational, enlightened and servant leader. He has put his own agenda aside to be a positive difference maker in as many lives and communities as possible.
This is what the power of sports has the potential to accomplish when we live from a place of love and not fear.
So to the National Football League…We cannot heal what we do not acknowledge. If pain, anger, hate, and separateness continue to become our identity, the healing and conscious awakening for transformation will keep being postponed…
And the same lives Colin Kaepernick is standing up for will only continue to matter when the conversation is comfortable and entertainment is being provided.
Found this post interesting? Kindly tap the ❤ button below. Thank you for your time and support!
About the Author:
Kimati A. Ramsey is an innovative strategist, empowering personal growth consultant, and dynamic storyteller who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. Kimati equips, engages, and inspires student-athletes, high school and college students with the actionable educational, career, and life management strategies to successfully navigate the pivotal high school-to-college and college-to-career transitions. Stay connected at www.kimatiramsey.com and LinkedIn.
