Are You There GODgers? It's Me, Kaepernick.
Whattup, Aaron?
It’s Colin.
Been a minute.
Wanted to say thanks for saying those nice things about me a few months back.
Also wanted to say I was sorry to see your season end the way it did last Sunday.
These refs don’t look out for us running quarterbacks the way they should.
You know that whistle woulda blown before you were halfway down if it’d been Brady.
But somehow, someway, this league lets us know that we're all disposable.
It chews us up and spits us out when its done.
Nature of the business and the game, we're only some talented pawns in it.
Even Brady's gonna find that out one day, when Bill finally goes to Garroppolo.
But here’s the thing, my man: you’re no ordinary pawn.
You’re actually the most powerful player in the league, by a wide margin.
You’re the guy a few fans, and at least one loud-mouth blogger, call GODgers.
You’re the only guy who causes a 12-point swing at the sports book in Vegas.
When Brady goes down, Bill still wins 11 games with Matt Cassell.
When you go down, the entire state of Wisconsin cancels football in January.
Look, I'm not saying I'm on your level at all.
But you know I can hold the fort down better than an unseasoned kid from UCLA.
We both know I’m never getting back in the league without a miracle.
You, GODgers, might be the only one left who can help perform it.
You could call in a favor from a franchise that needs you more than you need them.
It'll help you show your teammates, and the world, that you're a real one.
Full disclosure, I've all but given up on ever playing in the NFL again.
I pretty much knew that once this protest blowback heated up last Fall.
Once Trump was dragging me on the campaign trail, I was almost sure I was done.
Most of these owners are a lot more like that dude than they wanna let on publicly.
When the Jags went into the season starting Blake Bortles, I knew the deal.
Same thing with those free-agency pump-fakes that Seattle and Baltimore made.
But when the Titans lost Mariotta and brought in Brandon Weeden instead?!?
I knew this shit was a wrap for good.
I filed that law suit the next day, just so I could tell the world I knew the deal too.
We ain't winning the case, but fuck it.
Sometimes you gotta take short-term L's, for long term W's.
I knew none of this was gonna win me a popularity contest with NFL fans.
Sometimes standing up, or kneeling, for what you believe in, matters more than a job.
It’d be cool if any of these folks remembered what I was protesting about tho.
I hated seeing you go down last weekend, you're the best thing to watch in that league.
But it also, for the first time in awhile, showed me an opening.
I hear people on ESPN saying I won’t have time to learn Mike McCarthy’s “system”.
Isn’t Mike McCarthy’s "system" basically just watching you free-lance your way out of busted plays, or seeing Brett Favre do the same before that?
Doesn't your word carry more weight than that guy's, who should be thanking you daily, for rescuing him from his own mediocrity?
Even while you're out, you're still the NFL player with the most clout.
And that franchise you play for isn't owned by an oil tycoon invested in this President.
It’s literally the only franchise in the league owned by the people.
Did you know I was born and raised an hour away from Lambeau Field?
But oddly enough, I grew up rooting for your hometown team, the Niners.
You know, the team you said would pay for taking Alex Smith over you on Draft Day?
Same one trying to pretend that Brian Hoyer was better than me this past summer?
Kinda funny, right?
Speaking of growing up, remember those movies with racial themes we were raised on?
You know, where some fictionalized, idealized white savior stands up for black people?
A Time to Kill, Mississippi Burning, The Help, you get the idea.
Welp, "this ain't a movie, dawg"(c)Jay-Z
This is real life, in the United States of America, in the 21st century.
Even if it's now being run by an unqualified, immoral, and unfit reality-TV-shit-show.
You could be a real manifestation of that idealized movie trope, Aaron.
While To Kill A Mockingbird is being banned in schools, you can be Atticus Finch.
Think about it.
Who's the white athlete in modern times people most associate with social activism?
My mom, a ride-or-die white lady, says it's Billie Jean King.
There's a movie out about that right now actually.
But that happened a long-ass time ago, before we were even born.
And when talking about star white athletes taking a stand against racial injustice, I don't even wanna know how far back we gotta go.
It always seems to be us that gotta absorb the shrapnel and make the big sacrifices, from Jackie, to Ali, to Curt Flood, now me.
Conversely, in this current climate, it's viewed as damn near radical to re-enact Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson from 70 years ago.
You could help change that, because it feels like we're moving backwards.
Even while your shoulder is a sling, you could make yourself heard on this thing.
You'd make more impact doing so than any miracle you've performed on a football field.
Nobody's gonna tell you that you should, I'm just saying that you could.
You won't face any blow back for sitting home and kicking back.
But you seem like a sharp dude, who has some empathy too.
If you used your power and privilege, to charge up the hill, like General Shaw in Glory?
We'd love to see what you might be able to do.
This is bigger than football...or politics...or me...and you.
Deep down, you know what I'm saying is true.
Peace.
One Love,
Kaep
