SAN FRANCISCO - Four years after former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick created a firestorm by quietly taking a knee during the national anthem instead of standing, the ex-NFL player took pen to paper to advocate for abolishing police and prisons. "It’s been four years since I first protested during 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" the athlete-turned-activist wrote on Medium. "At the time, my protest was tethered to my understanding that something was not right.
I saw the bodies of Black people left dead in the streets. I saw them left dead in their cars. I saw them left dead in their backyards.
I saw Black death all around me at the hands of the police. I saw little to no accountability for police officers who had murdered them.