Just what we don’t need: another Colin Kaepernick documentary. “Kaepernick & America” begins Sept. 2 on streaming television.
A Variety story says director Tommy Walker was personally captivated by the Kaepernick saga and the insights it provided about ongoing racial turmoil in the nation. The documentary explores “the intersection between his protest in the summer of 2016 and the widespread reactions they spurred.”
Walker stated, “The film we have made seeks to discover the parallels between the life and activism of Colin Kaepernick and the tumultuous and divisive factors that have colored America’s racial divide.”
A review of the documentary by Creators Faire describes the year 2016 as a time when “a discordant national cauldron” was ready to boil over. It included “the birth of Trumpism”, as well. “Then, Colin Kaepernick took a knee and America lost its mind. Kaep’s knee touched down on the divide between America’s Black and white tectonic plates, creating an earthquake in the eternal race debate. The aftershocks of his singular gesture have already rippled through our country for years.”
Though Kaepernick’s radical anti-Americanism as a member of the San Francisco 49ers ignited a social justice revolution in sports, Walker tries to convince people that his America-hating “actually reveals more about America, the land that reacted so profoundly to such a simple gesture.”
Kaepernick’s national anthem and verbal protests supposedly presented a racist America in a mirror and millions of people didn’t like what they saw. “The young man stood his ground in the face of the brutal backlash, continuing his protest for 20 consecutive weeks,” Walker said. “Somehow, with his right knee on the field and his arms passively crossed in front of him, he managed to point a finger at injustice without saying a word.”
It’s outrageous to claim Kaepernick didn’t say a word. Truthfully, he said plenty of inflammatory remarks in 2016:
I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.
This from the guy that did a press conference in Miami wearing a Fidel Castro tee shirt.Outraged Americans burned Kaepernick shirts and the ensuing social justice eruptions throughout sports turned countless fans away from the games they once loved. He was a quarterback in decline and one with a losing career record, not one team was willing to bring him and his incendiary rhetoric back to the NFL.
The “Kaepernick & America” documentary does not appear to offer much in the way of political or cultural balance. It includes conversations with CNN lefty Don Lemon, NFL sideline reporter Pam Oliver, NFL Network reporter Steve Wyche, who gave Kaepernick a microphone to spew his accusations of so-called systemic racism in America, and others.
All this bile will be viewable on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV via iTunes, along with AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Dish and Verizon Fios.
A past Kaepernick documentary, Netflix’s “Colin Kaepernick in Black and White,” presented the NFL draft as a “slave auction” -- the same NFL he wants to return to! -- and America as a racist nation.
