Nate Boyer Says Colin Kaepernick Should Be Proud of Protests
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 4 years ago • 5 commentsBy: Brandon Contes (Mediaite)
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By Brandon ContesAug 20th, 2021, 9:40 am Twitter share button <?php // Post Body ?>
In 2016, Colin Kaepernick was the first high-profile athlete to kneel during the national anthem. Five years later, thousands of athletes have joined him using their platform for social justice messaging.
Before Kaepernick began taking a knee as a form of protest, he sat on the bench by himself during the national anthem. Former United States Army Green Beret Nate Boyer reached out to Kaepernick, with the hope of understanding why the quarterback was protesting.
"We sort of found this common ground and came to this place where we both thought kneeling was a better option," Boyer told podcaster and former ESPN host Dan Le Batard.
While Kaepernick's message still gets squashed by a competing form of patriotism that can't see beyond taking a knee, there's no question the movement launched five years ago has grown immensely.
"I'm not gonna say it's surprising," Boyer said of what happened to Kaepernick's NFL career. "He felt that what he was eventually kneeling for was far more important than his career, but I don't think he expected that to be the end all."
"Through all of this, maybe that message has amplified more and more because he never played again," Boyer told The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. "But I think he should be proud of how it expanded."
"There seemed to be a lot more people that somehow never even heard this thing or never fully understood why he was protesting that listened and maybe changed their tune," Boyer said of athlete protests especially in the wake of George Floyd's death. "Maybe a lot of that was BS, but I like to hope that at least some of that was genuine and there is going be continued change and progress made."
After kneeling during the 2016 season, Kaepernick never received a serious contract offer from an NFL franchise again, despite being just three-years removed from a Super Bowl appearance and proving to himself to be a very effective quarterback. Although Kaepernick was essentially blackballed from the NFL, thousands of other professional athletes followed his lead in taking a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice, with NFL, NBA and US women's soccer players being among the most high-profile.
Watch above via The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
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Back in the summer of 2016 I dont think anyone thought that Kaepernick would never play again, AND that his form of protest would be copied by many other athletes for years.
He exemplified American freedom by protesting something that many people did not agree with, and in doing so exposed just how many American politicians "talk the talk", but refuse to "walk the walk".
He made himself millions by attacking America and giving woke “credibility” to a corporation that relies on chIld labor and slavery.
And people still fall for it…
Mind you he wasn't doing because his body was shot, he never learned touch on his short and mid range passes, and his starting days were over. That had nothing to do with it what-so-ever.
His ego and attitude got in the way of him being a backup in the NFL.
And the NFL's ratings haven't stopped dropping since ......