Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick denounced Independence Day as a “celebration of white supremacy.”
“Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of ‘independence’, while you enslaved our ancestors,” he tweeted on July 4, following weeks of protests sparked by the death of unarmed black man George Floyd while he was in police custody.
“We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all,” he continued.
Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of “independence”, while you enslaved our ancestors. We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all. ✊? pic.twitter.com/YCD2SYlgv4
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) July 4, 2020
Kaepernick’s tweet was accompanied by a video of actor James Earl Jones reading abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” The video showed pictures of slaves, the Ku Klux Klan, and police brutality.
Kaepernick was the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and racism in the United States. He became a free agent in 2017 and recently settled with the football league over claims that it colluded against him to keep him out of a job.
He is now working as one of the most high-profile social justice advocates in the country, although National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell has welcomed teams having him back on the field.
“Well, listen, if he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously it’s going to take a team to make that decision,” Goodell said last month. “But I welcome that, support a club making that decision and encourage them to do that.”
