Thursday night’s game in San Diego was billed as “military night”, a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of military personnel who live in a city well known for its patriotism and military bases.
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Jerry Rice seems to think he was misunderstood in commenting on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest. NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown said he is with Kapernick “100 percent”, while many members of the Armed Services showed their support on Twitter with the #VeteransForKaepernick hashtag.
His 49ers teammate and former LSU safety Eric Reid knelt beside Kaepernick. He’s also received support from several colleagues in the National Football League, two of whom joined his protest on Thursday: Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane sat during the anthem before his team’s game against the Oakland Raiders, and Kaepernick’s 49ers teammate Eric Reid joined him in taking a knee in San Diego.
According to an NFL.com report, Kaepernick and Reid discussed their joint protest extensively before the game.
Kaepernick took time also during his post-game news conference to attempt to refocus the message he is trying to get across with his protest.
“He saw that it hurt people that he sat during the national anthem”, Reid said. “He wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to the military or the national anthem, so he made a decision to change his position to be more respectful, but still bring awareness to the issues that he believes are going on in this country, and that I wholeheartedly believe exist in this country”.
Boyer stood next to Kaepernick and Reed as they knelt during the anthem prior to the game.
“I wore those socks, in the past, because the rogue cops that are allowed to hold positions in police departments, not only put the community in danger, but also put the cops that have the right intentions in danger by creating an environment of tension and mistrust”, Kaepernick wrote on Instagram.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color”, he said. That’s why I’m doing this. “I think having these conversations helps everybody have a better understanding of where everybody is coming from”. I want to help make America better.
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Kaepernick started the game at quarterback, and led the 49ers to a touchdown on the game’s opening series. Overall, he played three series and went 11-of-18 passing for 103 yards.
