Cancel Culture vs Kaepernick

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Photograph Source: USA Today Sports

@RexHuppke said:

“I feel like we’re just moments away from someone on Fox News blaming the Jan. 6 terrorist attack on the U.S. capitol on Colin Kaepernick.”

I went dig mode on zeitgeist Cancel Culture (CC) and made some interesting finds. My findings are not farfetched from the opinions that have shaped public opinion.

CC simply put is the act of blocking, whitelisting (blacklisting) from having a prominent public platform or career.

From Harvey Weinstein to Bill Cosby and Kevin Spacey who were canceled because of rape and sexual assault allegations and JK Rowling for her transphobic tweet, CC has become common.

Another victim of the cancel culture who has somehow been on the radar of public CC acknowledgment is Colin Kaepernick. Now don’t feign ignorance about this guy.

Now meet Colin Kaepernick.

He is an American civil rights activist and football quarterback who was blacklisted into being a free agent because he knelt during the national anthem at the start of NFL games in protest against police brutality and racial inequality.

Was he fighting a genuine cause? Yes, he was. Someone once said, “Even good intentions get canceled.”

I went snooping about CC and found that it came into public glare in a 1991 movie: New Jack City where Wesley Snipes played Nino Brown (gangster). In a scene, he said:

“Cancel that bitch. I’ll buy another one.”

Though said by Nino Brown, this was attributed to Barry Michael Cooper, the screenwriter.

Also in the VH1 reality show, Love and Hip Hop: New York, cast member, Cisco Rosado tells Diamond Strawberry during a fight, “You’re canceled.”

Twitter took the lead in giving CC schemes added credence because it gave the marginalized groups shunted out of the public conversation a voice.

Pre-calling out of racial discriminatory trends via Black Lives Matter, I saw double standards from lots of actions.

We are what we hate.

Just imagine being as right as Colin and yet get canceled by those who you think were advocates of justice all along. Colin was far ahead of his time having realized that whiteness seems more about the cultural cancellation of blackness. He saw the knees on the necks of the blacks before the main event.

Now it seems they hearkened to the voices and we are back to covert racism where it feels inexistent but runs in the background like some BIOS.

The BLM movement was an expose to how racism has become a thing. Great institutions built over time but carefully and intentionally, deal blows to a race just because they are black.

The big brands are not any different. They saw an opportunity to act concerned and involved. They cashed in on it and when the storm was over, we are back to a world where blacks are hated for their blackness.

Orchestrated concern just for the money. Seems it has always been about the money. No brand wants a boycott of any kind because post-smear recovery is hard. That is what they say. So what do we do? Play the empathy card.

I saw the NBA, English Premier League, and the league that used Kaepernick to build their CC capacity all acting like it was really about BLM.

The NFL is a clear definition of everything that went wrong with humanity. They found their voice when the polls took out the head of Black Lives Never Mattered from the White House. They are now on a script that casts more shadows on their bias-laced stance than it shows the light about the plight of Blacks in America.

With Kaepernick blacklisted out of the BFL by the covert Proud Boys, all campaigns on social justice will only bring shame to the Power Brokers of the NFL.

If Kaepernick’s story could play out in the open without any form of humanity, one can only imagine what had happened and still happens in the dark before the smartphone.

@Imauricecpr said:

“Never forget that the NFL systematically villainized Colin Kaepernick because he knelt to protest racial injustice, police violence, and anti-Blackness.”

He also said:

“Terrorists stormed the Capitol and killed a cop while Trump cheered like he was at the Super Bowl watching NFL owners say ‘get that son of a bitch off the field’ for kneeling.”

He offered some advice when he said:

“Dear white people. Don’t just tweet about Black people when we’re getting beat or shot by police in a video on Twitter because it’ll get you retweets. Tweet about us when we’re alive and in the community doing positive things too. If you really care about helping Black history.”

As much as one claims to love humanity and hate a race, that brand of being humane remains a smokescreen.

Life can be twisty and know this, in silence; the NFL will keep bearing the weight of the grudge. Kaepernick will remain the hero who stood against oppression and suppression of a race by those who have labeled themselves, “The superior race.”

Kaepernick is the realest hero and the moneybags of the NFL and their cahoots are more villain than Thanos. NFL remains the face of all the unwritten and written moral code don’ts. This is not going away anytime. The internet never forgets to make this story easy to be told to the generation unborn. They can choose a path from this story.

“Until Colin Kaepernick is back on a team, the @NFL’s social justice efforts will ring hollow.” @kai_newkirk

So will other smoke screens just to distract people from all orchestrations of racial injustice ring hollow.

The NFL did not succeed in taking away Kaepernick’s social justice cachet or earned him a boycott. They made him and all he represents become well known. They made him a beloved free agent. Thanks to their actions, I know Kaepernick. My kids will tell this story to their kids and the story will traverse my bloodline.

Thank you Colin Kaepernick for winning in the NFL’s CC vs Colin Kaepernick.

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