(When We Gonna Learn) They Don’t Love Us
Protest and strike if you will, but the system that’s punishing Kaepernick is based on entrenched beliefs…and they’re not gonna change
The 49ers ran 16 read-option plays that Green Bay had no answers for.
This was the beginning of the legend of Colin Kaepernick. That 56 yard run/touchdown is unforgettable. That was just 56 of a total 181 yards he ran that day.
2012 was the year of the read-option. But anyone who follows American football knows that when there’s offensive breakthroughs that give them an advantage, the next year defensive coordinators come up with ways to end that advantage. It’s a numbers game. Read Chris B. Brown’s discussion of that here.
Kaepernick was made by the read-option system. His play off of that electrified the crowd and had pundits screaming out that a new day was about to appear in the NFL. That never happened. We never saw that explosiveness again. The leagues defensive adjustments shut him and Chip Kelly (a whole ‘nother piece could be written about him) down.
Kaepernick was an afterthought. Then came the protests. One idiot reporter said that Kap was sitting “in protest of what he deems are wrongdoings against African Americans and minorities in the United States.” What “he deems?” Deems is an intransitive verb, a fancy way of saying OPINION. We all know it had nothing to do with opinion.
By the time Kaepernick took over the starting QB position last season (2016/2017), the 49ers were already 1–4 and reliant on the play calling of Chip Kelly who was handicapped by his inability to have snaps as quick as he’d like and his unwillingness to adjust to the defensive advancements that were made to shut down all forms of the read-option. The Niners finished 2–14, Kelly was shit-canned, and Kap opted out of his contract…now we’re here.
Everyone from KRS to Spike Lee have talked about and been a victim of it, KRS, less so than Spike. When you’re on top, making the company money — be it the record label, film studio, or football team, you’re loved. As we talked about here, Spike went from the media’s darling — spokesman on all things Black — to pariah in zero minutes flat.
You’re a commodity.
I’ll never forget this exchange between the owner of the Carolina Panthers, Jerry Richardson and Charlie Rose:
I said, ‘Do you have any tattoos?’
He said, ‘No, sir. I don’t have any.’
I said, ‘Do you have any piercings?’
He said, ‘No, sir. I don’t have any.’
I said, ‘We want to keep it that way.’ .
“We want to keep no tattoos, no piercings, and I think you’ve got a very nice haircut.”
Charlie Rose: You sound like a Lombardi.
Richardson: No, I just sound reasonable to me.
Black folk were offended for a news cycle but then something else took over the public conversation. It resonated with me to the point where I can remember it almost six years later because of Richardson’s title. He’s an owner. He OWNS the Carolina Panthers. Jerry Richardson’s the Ray Kroc of Hardee’s, meaning he grew one franchise to 500, that’s how he got his fortune. The Panthers are worth $1.5 billion dollars in a conservative market (read: extremely racist/prejudice). If he wants to keep that fortune, he can’t go pissing off Joe and Jane Nascar, can he? Cam’s his nigger and needs to represent his plantation (the Panthers) properly.
“He has a $103 million dollar contract,” you might exclaim. Yes, he does. As long as Richardson sees fit. Let Cam cross Richardson or do something that “embarrasses” the Panthers and we’ll see how that contract works.
It’s likely that Kaepernick’s football playing years are behind him. The average NFL career ain’t but 3 1/2 years, couple that with the recent report of CTI affecting damn near every player tested, Kaepernick may have made it out on time.
He certainly seems happy. Not a week has gone by that Kap’s not been in the news: giving away $1 million in charities for people in need, giving away his sneaker collection, traveling to Ghana, etc. I have yet to hear him say, “If I don’t get picked up by a team, ya’ll need to burn this mothafucka down!”
…probably not his language, but you get the point.
Recently, it was said that one of my top hated teams, the Baltimore Ravens, were in talks to pick up Kaepernick…they decided on an Arena Football QB instead. Ravens owner, Steve Bisciotti’s no different than Jerry Richardson, and perhaps has more insight into the matter considering he made his fortune from founding the staffing agency, Allegis Group. Here’s what he had to say:
I don’t like the way he (Kaepernick) did it. Personally, I kind of liked it a lot when he went from sitting to kneeling (as his protest). I don’t know, I’m Catholic, we spend a lot of time kneeling. Steve Bisciotti
The owners of these teams are in touch with the pulse of their core audience…the ones that put O’ Little Hands in office. What do they look like supporting someone who’s “Anti-American.” Beat a woman? Sure. Sexually assault a woman? That’s okay. Kill a dog…let’s not get carried away.
You want to piss Johnny Six Pack off, mess with his dog or shit on his flag. Black folk may make up over 70% of the NFL, but I’m sure the amount of us that own season tickets are well below that. Hell, I doubt that we even make up 30% of all season ticket holders (maybe Daniel Cusato has the answers).
So go on and protest. Like we talked about in “Financial Freedom’s Our Only Hope…” a true protest has to threaten the object of that protest’s financials. Black people boycotting the NFL won’t do it…unless all of the Black people who played in the NFL boycotted. That would leave the NFL with 560 players. Not gonna happen.
And it’s likely Kaepernick will never play again. Not so long as NFL owners (erroneously) believe that ratings fell because of National Anthem Protests (Hint: it’s the CTI stupids). They’re going to protect their image. They could give two shits about picketing Black folks and they damn sure don’t care about Kap. Hell, look at what they did to Johnny Football, and he white.
