Hundreds To Protest The 'Blackballing' Of Colin Kaepernick, At The Bears' Home Opener
By Stephen Gossett in News on Aug 9, 2017 5:50PM
Colin Kaepernick / Getty Images / Photo: Harry How
Training camp is in full swing, the NFL preseason is underway, and quarterback Colin Kaepernick is still without a team. If any collusion has taken place to keep the activist QB sidelined, it would be very difficult to prove. But after a preseason that saw multiple less qualified passers land jobs, critics remain certain that Kaepernick is essentially being blackballed for kneeling during national anthems—which he did to protest racial injustice.
Given that context, a call has emerged for protests to be staged at each home opener around the league, including here in Chicago, at Soldier Field. More than 600 people so far have said they will attend the pro-Kaepernick protest on Sept. 10, when the Bears start the season against the Atlanta Falcons.
Organizers wrote on the Standing for Kaepernick Protest - Chicago event page:
"Colin Kaepernick's peaceful protest of police brutality and other racial injustices has led to him being blackballed by the NFL. NFL owners have either decided to punish Kaepernick for taking this stand OR that it's best for business to sweep these issues under the rug. Either option is unacceptable!"
Aside from the various home-opener demonstrations, a major pro-Kaepernick protest is scheduled to take place in Manhattan outside the NFL league office on August 23. That rally got a signal boost on Tuesday from filmmaker Spike Lee. Frank Schwab for Yahoo Sports then invoked a name familiar to Chicagoans: "Lee tweeted about the rally two days after the Miami Dolphins passed on Kaepernick to sign Jay Cutler, which doesn’t seem like a coincidence."
Kaepernick has been making good on his pledge to donate $1 million to charity, including $25,000 to Chicago's Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) and a donation to the our city's Black Youth Project 100. He also joined the Know Your Rights campaign in Chicago last May.