President Trump’s intention to hold a race summit later in the year was announced last week — and one of his invites may surprise a lot of people.
Boxer Mike Tyson and rapper Kanye West were among the predictable invites, since they support Trump. But former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick also made the list.
ESPN anchor Jemele Hill ripped Trump’s invite to Kaepernick, telling Complex on Wednesday that it was merely a “photo-op” for the president with 2018 midterms coming up. That said, she does not want Kaepernick to attend.
Despite Hill’s condemnation, showing up would be Kaepernick’s best option if he is truly interested in creating positive change in the country.
By attending, Kaepernick would show maturity and a willingness to work with both sides to find solutions to his concerns. Last month, Kaepernick made his causes clear when he accepted Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award: police brutality and mass incarceration. These are topics he could speak about to Trump, so perhaps he could find common ground, offer solutions, and try to help the African-American community. There might not be a better time for him to go across the aisle in search of solutions than right now.
Although cases of documented police brutality are exceptionally rare, there are a few issues where they may be able to work together. For example, they could work on lowering the number of black children born to single mothers (72 percent) and the amount that have had a parent incarcerated (one in nine).
Perhaps they could discuss crime reform, like the bill Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner recently backed to provide second chances for incarcerated people. Maybe they could discuss decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level as Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have recently suggested in order to cut down on the number of drug-related imprisonments; according to the ACLU, they comprised 52 percent of drug indictments from 1990 to 2010 and African-Americans are nearly four times more likely than whites to be charged with it. Or, they could discuss expanding school which helps black children academically.
If Kaepernick and Trump discuss those issues, there is a chance they could find some common ground.
It also helps Kaepernick that Trump wants to be well-liked in the black community. Trump has spoken fondly of his more prominent African-American supporters on social media like West, Candace Owens, Joy Villa, and Diamond and Silk. He tweeted proudly of the country’s record-low black unemployment rate (6.6 percent) and was pleased by an uptick in his support among African-American men (from 11 percent to 22 percent in a recent Reuters poll).
Plus, Trump is willing to listen to people and evolve on ideas. A Democrat for most of the 2000s, Trump has evolved on a few issues and turned into a relatively conservative leader. Not to mention his administration has already met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and got the dictator to free three American prisoners, so the administration is likely willing to work with anyone if there is a chance to make progress.
Over the past few years, Kaepernick has had some negative optics. Kneeling for the National Anthem during the 2016 NFL season alienated patriotic Americans, as did wearing a t-shirt depicting Che Guevara and socks depicting police officers as pigs. He also seemed hypocritical when he refused to vote in the 2016 presidential election. Like Hill calling the president a white supremacist on Twitter last September, none of these actions made any positive impact on the black community.
Since Kaepernick has yet to make any significant progress in his quest, putting personal differences aside and working with the man in power seems to be what he needs to make an impact on society. If not, then the public has the right to believe he does not actually care about creating change.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelancer writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
