Campaign Action
Nearly fourteen months after beginning his protest against police brutality during NFL games, Colin Kaepernick remains unemployed. Though he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers at the end of last season, he has been unable to find a new home in the league. This is surprising based on talent alone—especially given how well he played in the preceding season. However, Kaepernick believes (like many others) that he is essentially being blackballed from football after his season-long peaceful protest. For that reason, he has filed a grievance against NFL owners, claiming they are participating in collusion.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported on what Kaepernick is looking to accomplish with the grievance:
"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Kaepernick wants to trigger termination of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
"Article 69, Section 2 of the CBA allows for the agreement to be terminated prematurely in the event of proof of collusion. Under Article 17, Section 16(c) of the CBA, termination can arise from only one incident of collusion involving only one player if there is clear and convincing evidence of a violation."
Kaepernick and his lawyer’s argument is that the owners are working to deny him employment. It does not help also that the current president of the United States has weighed in and has been giving speeches and tweeting for weeks supporting, encouraging and practically threatening owners not to tolerate peaceful protest by athletes during the national anthem. While it may fan the flames of hatred among Trump’s base and those racists who are angry with black athletes protesting injustice, it is also now being used as evidence in Kaepernick’s grievance.
Sadly, Colin Kaepernick’s career in the NFL is likely over. The owners are quite conservative and a number of them are Trump supporters. Since 2015, nine of them have donated millions to Trump—either for his campaign for president, his inauguration or his re-election. They may pretend that not hiring Kaepernick is not about race or about Trump, but it’s about both as well as their own pockets. While they may have come out with some fake show of solidarity for unity, they are only interested in protecting their bottom-line interests. That does not include giving Kaepernick a job—which would certainly inflame a portion of the NFL viewership. They prefer their black athletes to shut up and simply play ball. This will continue to make them billions of dollars, rather than have to deal with athletes who are also human beings, speaking about the reality of the world that they live in.
Luckily, Kaepernick is already a millionaire and has established himself as an activist for racial and social justice—having created a foundation dedicated to fighting oppression globally through education and activism. He may no longer entertain fans as a professional quarterback but he has the chance to do something far more impactful in the years to come.