“It was a little nod to Kaepernick and everything that he’s standing for right now”. On Tuesday, Rapinoe clarified that she plans on taking her protest to the national stage.
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“I am disgusted with the way [Kaepernick] has been treated and the fans and hatred he has received in all of this”, Rapinoe told espnW. This is also contingent on whether Rapinoe is named to the roster for the match against Thailand. “Having said that, I am 100 percent in favor of what Colin Kaepernick is doing”.
“I think it’s actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way a lot of media has covered it and made it about something it actually isn’t”, Rapinoe said.
Before Kaepernick took a stand by refusing to stand, his jersey was only the sixth most popular on his own team. “Stay in your place, black man”.
“We need to have more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country”, she said.
“Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties”, Rapinoe continued. But I don’t doubt his sincerity based on what I’ve heard.
The openly gay soccer star said she sees a commonality between her and Kaepernick. And if nothing else, what he’s done is he’s generated more conversation around some topics that need to be talked about.
Going forward, Rapinoe plans to continue with her silent protest before games: ‘The very least that I can do is continue the conversation with him by kneeling for the anthem’.
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He said that the quarterback was exercising his “constitutional right”, that he’s following in the tradition of other famous athletes and “I think he cares about some real legitimate issues that have to be talked about”. When asked about the global soccer body FIFA’s corruption as well as its coddling of countries that have openly anti-LGBT laws, the Women’s World Cup star said simply, “F*ck Federation Internationale de Football Association”.
