Illustration: Doron Weber
It is not just the four protagonists who have polarised opinion. Many other people have been deeply affected by the cultural clash that the debate around Colin Kaepernick has caused. Take the following sequence of tweets, either by @ThingPoppiLioness or @scandalbrocks:
TIM SMITH: Who started this anthem protest, @ColinKaepernick7? I can’t believe he would ask ANYONE for their tax info. Period.
VICKY BURKE: @ThingPoppiLioness. @ColinKaepernick7 is a hero! He came out strong for the right people, and stopped a criminal if one could be, and he’s being portrayed as a traitor. It’s war what you are doing.
HADLEY CHILCOTT: @ThingPoppiLioness. It is so disrespectful to our troops who fought for the country to say “unity” when it was all about the poorest, uneducated people. He doesn’t have to worry about the uprising against him in his country.
CHRIS GREEN: @ThingPoppiLioness. I am one of the many people who fought in WWII who came back with injuries, like Colin. Have respect for those who have risked their lives for us.
TIM SMITH: Chris, you’re missing the point here. This is really about the dishonesty of the government. What does one have to do to send the commandeered football team to stand?
THREE QUESTIONS: SHOULD THE NFL TAKEOVER the NBA? #protesting
THREE QUESTIONS: RUSSIAN BODIES, WHAT ARE THEY?
THREE QUESTIONS: IS COLIN KAEPERNICK A MORON?
WHITE MEN – WHO WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG, AND WHY RENOMINATE BLACK SPEAKERS
AFTER PROPOSING TO HIS FIRST LADY BACK IN 2009, KAEPERNICK SAT DOWN FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH GQ.
GQ: Why are you marching for black freedom?
Colin Kaepernick: To get all the blacks out of the way. I would just like to march peacefully and let all these people take the ass-whooping that’s going to happen. If you don’t stand up for something, you fall for anything.
GQ: Do you think Donald Trump has made this process harder?
Colin Kaepernick: Absolutely. If it weren’t for Trump and the lies and the stuff he said about the NFL being a racist league, this wouldn’t have been so big of a deal. But if you have somebody like Trump taking those shots at the NFL, you’re going to start seeing protests everywhere.
Kaepernick then went on to say that his decision to take a knee had nothing to do with the more than 50 black men who have been killed by police in the last two years.
GQ: What have you been thinking about the last couple of weeks?
Colin Kaepernick: I’ve been thinking about the people who died because of police brutality. And I’ve been thinking about all the stuff that’s been coming out about Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo. What it shows is that I’m not the only one that is thinking like this. There are people out there that agree with what I’m doing.