U.S. Senator Cory Booker is criticizing the reaction to San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s anti-American protests in the National Football League by saying it is more pronounced than the outrage exhibited when police officers kill “unarmed” black men.
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The quarterback said he had anticipated the backlash before he embarked on his protest.
“Granted, it’s not how I want it to happen, but that’s the realization of what could happen”. Kaepernick initially came under fire for disrespecting the military by sitting during the national anthem at the 49ers preseason game against the Green Bay Packers three weeks ago.
Reflecting on the threats, Kaepernick said that “if something like that were to happen, you’ve proved my point and it will be loud and clear for everyone why it happened, and that would move this movement forward at a greater speed than what it is even now”. “I think everybody needs to check themselves”, he said to Sports Illustrated.
“This is a ideal example of what this is about”, Kaepernick told reporters. Kaepernick was reportedly booed and the target of verbals slurs and given the middle finger by some fans when the 49ers play at Carolina Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Though it’s scary that the 28-year-old has to worry about death threats, we were reminded why he’s protesting when yet another unarmed black man was shot and killed by an officer in Oklahoma earlier this week.
This follows a tweet from August 30 in which Rice criticized Kaepernick, urging him not to “disrespect the flag”.
“There’s a lot of racism in this country disguised as patriotism”, Kaepernick told the Guardian on Tuesday, “and people want to take everything back to the flag but that’s not what we’re talking about”. He has since kneeled during the anthem in protest of racial inequalities and injustices taking place in the USA, including police brutality and violence against Black people. Crutcher, an unarmed motorist, was shot and killed by a Tulsa Police officer who responded to a call of a vehicle blocking the street, the Tulsa World reported. No one went and checked on him, no one tried to resuscitate him. Ultimately, their silence exposes just how quick some are to vilify a black man for peacefully standing up for his rights than they are to speak out against the violent killing of black people by police.
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The San Francisco 49ers quarterback told The Mercury News that the death threats have come from a “couple different avenues” but added that he also has seen positive results from the movement.
