Whoever said you hurt the ones you love must have been talking about Colin Kaepernick.
For the second time in less than a month, Colin Kaepernick has accused his adoptive white parents of perpetuating racism.
The former 49er and original anthem protester appeared in an interview with Eve L. Ewing, who co-authored Kaepernick’s childhood autobiography, Change the Game. Kaepernick went in-depth about the backlash he received from his comments in a March interview with CBS News in which he accused his parents of “perpetuating racism” over an incident involving a hairstyle he wanted to get.
“I’ve had a lot of responses from other trans-racial adoptees on that front,” he said. “Just like having similar experiences and having similar family dynamics that they’re trying to navigate.”
Kaepernick continued, “It is very difficult for people to have a nuanced conversation around it to be, like, yeah, the people that love you and that you love can also perpetuate very problematic elements, and those things can exist at the same time,” he said. “And part of it is, like, how do you grapple with that? How do you navigate that? And especially at a young age? And it’s, like, are you equipped to navigate that and are your parents equipped to navigate that?”
It was important for me to share my story so that others who’ve had similar experiences would feel recognized & affirmed. Thanks for all your help, @eveewing. I hope this inspires people to #ChangeTheGame! Available at https://t.co/W4D3EuaR1w & wherever books are sold. pic.twitter.com/W6OOhOTbfO
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) March 30, 2023
The incident with Kaepernick’s mother, also captured in his book, centers around the future NFL player’s youthful desire to braid his hair in cornrows like one of his favorite basketball players, Allen Iverson.
After getting his hair braided, Kaepernick’s mother warned that his hair looked “not professional” and “a little thug.”
Kaepernick told CBS News, “Those become spaces where it’s like, ‘Okay, how do I navigate the situation now?’ But it also has informed why I have my hair long today.”
The Nike pitchman characterized the disagreements with his mother as “problematic” and attributed them to racism.
Many cite Kaepernick’s attacks on his adoptive parents as ugly and revealing a lack of gratitude, and those people are right. What’s worse, however, is that since Kaepernick has already publicly scorned his parents once and is clearly aware of the backlash it provoked, his only reason for bringing it up again is to encourage more outrage and draw more attention to his book.
So, not only is he throwing his parents under the bus. But he’s throwing them under the bus in a naked zeal to make money. There’s a word for that type of person, but I probably shouldn’t write it here.