A football writer said in a USA Today column published Monday that to not hire Colin Kaepernick was to “spit in the face of American values.”
Jarrett Bell wrote, “It’s one thing for teams to favor a player based on his background in a particular scheme or to be turned off due to locker room chemistry issues. But to spit in the face of American values the flag is supposed to represent by refusing to hire someone who might kneel during the anthem is such a slippery slope for a league that has employed players (and others) convicted or accused of all sorts of transgressions.”
Bell also wrote, “That Kaepernick, a quarterback in his prime, can’t land a job in a league with a fair share of sorry passers, is about as un-American as it gets.”
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick prepares to take the field before an NFL game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, U.S. October 23, 2016. Picture taken October 23, 2016. REUTERS/Loren Elliott – RC1D5BD95570
Though Kaepernick is not playing in the NFL, he hasn’t been quiet. He said in April that police officers in the United States are participating in the “lawful lynching of black and brown people.” (RELATED: Colin Kaepernick Accuses American Police Officers Of ‘Lawful Lynching Of Black And Brown People’)
He also said that, “racialized oppression and dehumanization is woven into the very fabric” of the United States.