Overview of Colin Kaepernick, Ten Years After Taking a Knee
This New Yorker Radio Hour conversation between David Remnick and Colin Kaepernick revisits the decade since Kaepernick’s national anthem protest made him both one of the most polarizing figures in American sports and one of its most important political voices. The interview centers on his memoir, The Perilous Fight, and explores his path from elite NFL quarterback to activist, the racism he encountered in football, the costs of protesting police violence, and why he still sees football as both brutal and deeply meaningful.
Key Topics Discussed
Kaepernick’s early life and identity
- Grew up adopted into a white family in Turlock, California, a largely white and politically conservative area.
- Says he always knew he was Black; the “journey” was learning how to place his experience within Black history and systems of power.
- Football gave him a sense of belonging, especially because of the camaraderie and the larger number of Black players.
Race, policing, and systems-level thinking
- Kaepernick explains how books and thinkers like Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, Huey Newton, and Angela Davis helped him develop a broader understanding of structural racism.
- He frames policing as part of a historical system rooted in slave patrols and says one-off explanations miss the larger pattern.
- Describes real-life experiences of being profiled and policed, including incidents in college and growing up in a majority-white environment.
Racism inside football
- Kaepernick argues the NFL both reflects and intensifies racism in American society.
- He highlights the NFL combine as a humiliating, racially charged process that recalls slave auction imagery.
- Says Black quarterbacks are often praised for athleticism but denied the intellectual labels routinely given to white quarterbacks, like “field general” or “coach on the field.”
Why he protested in 2016
- The protest began with him sitting during the anthem in the preseason, then shifting to kneeling with teammate Eric Reid.
- He connects the decision to the killings of Black people by police, including Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, and Mario Woods.
- He says the anthem felt incompatible with pride in a country that has systematically harmed Black people.
Fallout and blackballing
- Kaepernick says the protest triggered a coordinated backlash from the NFL and that he was effectively blackballed.
- He claims teams cared more about avoiding political controversy than about talent, undermining the league’s claim to be a meritocracy.
- He describes interviews and tryouts that focused on his politics rather than football ability, including a Seattle Seahawks visit where he was asked about his beliefs but not seriously given a chance.
Support, or lack thereof, from others
- He says few teammates stood with him, largely out of fear.
- He criticizes the Players Coalition and names Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin as players who, in his view, weakened the protest effort.
- Notes that support from white players was limited, though Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady publicly said he should not be blackballed.
The protest’s impact beyond the NFL
- Kaepernick argues the protest was never just about him or the NFL; it was about Black communities and police violence.
- He points to the commercial success of the Nike “Dream Crazy” campaign and his jersey sales as evidence that public support was stronger than the league claimed.
- Says the protest helped open space for broader athlete activism.
The WNBA and contemporary athlete activism
- He praises the WNBA as a model for athlete-led political engagement, especially around racial justice, voting rights, and community issues.
- He sees the league as an example of consistent, long-term leadership, even as it now faces culture-war attacks and attempts to weaponize trans issues.
“Woke” politics and the right-wing framing
- Kaepernick rejects the idea that activism is simply “woke” performative politics.
- He argues that the label is often used to dismiss real organizing and community work done over years.
- He pushes back on the idea that this framing should define how people think about racial justice efforts.
The violence and toll of football
- He discusses CTE and head trauma, saying the physical cost of football is immense and often underestimated.
- Describes each NFL play as roughly equivalent to a 35-mph car crash.
- Acknowledges that football carries a 100% injury rate, even if players are conditioned to accept it.
Main Takeaways
- Kaepernick sees his protest as part of a broader historical struggle, not a personal grievance.
- He believes the NFL’s response revealed the league’s racial and political priorities.
- He argues the league punished him not because he couldn’t play, but because he challenged power.
- Football remains emotionally important to him, even though he rejects the politics of the NFL and resents not being able to leave the game on his own terms.
- He would still return to the field if given the chance and if he felt physically capable.
Notable Insights
- Kaepernick emphasizes that being Black in America is not something he “found” later in life; rather, he learned how to interpret that identity within a larger social and political context.
- He repeatedly returns to the idea that systems matter more than individual incidents.
- He draws a sharp distinction between the game of football, which he loves, and the institution of the NFL, which he sees as hypocritical and political in its own right.
- His protest, in his view, was always about bringing attention to injustice and creating safer communities, not disrespecting the flag or military.
Bottom Line
This interview presents Colin Kaepernick as both an athlete and a political thinker who believes his career was sacrificed because he challenged the NFL and the broader American racial order. Ten years after taking a knee, he remains unapologetic, reflective, and still deeply connected to football—while making clear that the meaning of his protest was always larger than the game.