Damien Barling: Don't Speak. Listen Closer.
Albert Breer of the MMQB recently wrote a column about how Colin Kaepernick should speak up if he wants to play again in the NFL. He cited his tweet regarding dismantling the police force as something so divisive it needed to be explained.
As many of you know, Breer is completely tone deaf when it comes to anything associated with race and race relations. He's the same guy who believed Red Sox fans wouldn't have hurled racial slurs at Adam Jones without someone getting it in video. Where's the proof Breer asked?
Philandro Castille was murdered by an unqualified, undertrained, police officer who wont serve a single second of jail time.
He was murdered on video.
From two different angles.
It's a video no one should watch but everyone should see.
Castille he followed the letter of the law by telling that officer he was armed and licensed to carry.
We saw a cop from zero, to gun drawn, to shots fired, in a matter of seconds.
Strangely, we didn't hear from the NRA regarding this case. Weird how that works.
Kaepernick tweeted…
Breer wrote...
"The problem is in the vacuum that his silence has created. It's been filled with speculation and tea-leaf reading. Meanwhile, teams unsure if Kaepernick was truly interested in continuing his NFL career (rather than focusing solely on his causes) are still wondering. And that's so long as they haven't been convinced by his most recent actions that he's out."
So what Albert appears to be saying here is you have to pick one. You can't be an activist and a football player. No athlete has every done anything more then the sport they've played. LeBron James has not acted. Tom Brady has not modeled. Gronk hasn't partied. Jordan didn't golf. Jim Brown wasn't an activist. Neither was Kareem. Or Ali.
Breer also states teams are left to figure out if Kaep even wants to play football. With Kaep as an activist now, fighting against the injustices he sees in this country, he's forgone his cellphone. And agent. Its virtualluy impossible to reach him. No owner or general manager has a clue how to get a hold of him.I mean, if they did, that might just be able to, ya know, ask him.
Ole Al B continued...
Ask yourself this: If you wanted a job that badly, would you be endorsing shots at employers publicly like that? And if you'd had to fall on the sword for a recent act (Kaepernick had to backpedal last summer after wearing socks depicting police as pigs), would you repeat that act in a most public way while you were looking for work?
Right. This was in response to Kaep sending out the police tweet and retweeting a story that blamed Goodell for his unemployment. As we know, no active NFL athlete has ever criticized Roger Goodell. No one would dare such a thing.
I'm sincerely sorry if you can't sense my level of sarcasm in the above passage.
Breer needs to understand Kaep isn't trying to win over a billionare who owns a football team. He's trying to initiate change and conversation.
Colin Kaepernick will probably never take another snap in the NFL.
His impact will be far greater because of it.
His actions speak volumes.
Colin Kaepernick doesn't need to do an interview. Albert Breer just needs to shut up and listen.