Kaepernick Makes Demands of Society in New Essay

The NFL’s 2020 season has been a dysfunctional display of poor planning, shoddy decision making, and horrible ratings to boot, thanks to a confluence of issues.

First and foremost is the global coronavirus pandemic that is still going strong here in the United States.  The severity of the issue had some sports fans wondering if they would even have any sort of season to watch at all.  Now, even as the season has entered its second month, there are plenty of COVID-19 related concerns and a slew of games being rescheduled or postponed.

But there is another issue that appears to be affecting the way Americans are interacting with the NFL, and it all started with Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick’s last seasons in the league were defined by his protests against police brutality and racial injustice, in which the quarterback would kneel during the playing of the National Anthem.  Other players began to follow suit, and a great many fans took the injection of socio-political themes into their sports as an offense.  The league’s ratings have yet to recover.

Kaepernick is back in the spotlight again this week, despite that fact that he hasn’t played a single professional snap all season.

Colin Kaepernick is calling for abolishing the police and prison institutions as part of a new series of essays.

The series titled “Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons” is a partnership between Kaepernick Publishing and the Medium publication Level that builds on a rich tradition of Black organizing and freedom-fighting, according to the website.

“Over the next four weeks, we will publish 30 essays from political prisoners, grassroots organizers, movement leaders, scholars, and family members of those affected by anti-Black state violence and terrorism,” Kaepernick wrote in the debut essay titled “The Demand for Abolition” that was published on Tuesday.

The essays will focus on several themes, including police and policing, prisons and carcerality, and abolition of police instead of reform. The former NFL quarterback explained what each of the categories means and what it will encompass in the series.

Kaepernick has attempted several times to reenter the NFL, but to no avail.