“I’m not saying that he has to be black”, Harrison responded.
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Just like Kaepernick, my refusal to stand for the anthem is based on my belief that I have to stand up for people who are oppressed, inside and outside of the U.S. And how could I ever stand up for a song that actually celebrates slavery?
As a child, Kaepernick dealt with his own experiences with racial profiling, “We used to go on these summer driving vacations and stay at motels”, he recalled.
Sure enough, when pressed, Kaepernick said, “I have great respect for men and women that have fought for this country…” The quarterback’s backstory – he was born to a black father and white mother but was adopted and raised by a white family – is pretty well known.
Many have accused Kaepernick of seeking to insult veterans – though he explicitly said that was not the point of his protest – and others have said the national anthem ought to be above politics, a unifying theme under which celebrate our ideals.
Here we go, I thought.
“Obviously he has the right to stand up for what he believes, but he has to understand there are consequences and might be backlash for what he said. And Colin Kaepernick – he’s not black”, Harrison said on iHeartRadio (h/t Sporting News).
“I tell our guys, if you’re going to say something publicly, think about it”, he said.
There have been quite a few off-the-wall takes on the Colin Kaepernick controversy over the course of the last few days, but former National Football League player/current NBC analyst Rodney Harrison just offered up a take that has just about everyone scratching their heads, regardless of how they feel about Kaepernick right now. “The one thing about it, we see things the same way in terms how to build a football team”. But my thing is, I look at the timing of the situation. If it’s there, I haven’t seen it the last two times the media has been allowed in. “So the money came into the culture and created a couple of generations of individuals who did not want to speak up”.
Instead, he laughingly declared that there was a transcript available from his Sunday marathon session answering any and all questions about his decision to remain seated for the national anthem.
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Harrison acknowledged Kaepernick has a right to protest, and his heart is in the right place, but he’s “going about it the wrong way”.
