Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco quarterback, has been a divisive figure for many NFL fans. Despite amassing a substantial fortune of nearly $40 million from his football career and $20 million from a Nike endorsement deal, Kaepernick’s actions and views have left some fans disappointed and puzzled.
While he deliberately disrupted his football career, he has also been critical of capitalism, which some see as a contradiction.
Colin Kaepernick has expressed his belief that “black liberation” is not achievable within a capitalist system. As a quarterback-turned-racial activist, he attributes the responsibility for this to “white supremacists.”
Kaepernick has recently collaborated with renowned Black Marxist academics Robin D.G. Kelley and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on a book project. This book, titled “Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Black Studies,” defends a race-centered curriculum in American schools.
Colin Kaepernick admits to aligning with Marxists to edit his new book. pic.twitter.com/Y32HHFPjNj
— Vision4theBlind (@Vision4theBlind) June 19, 2023
In an interview with The New Republic, Kaepernick explained and justified his involvement in editing the book.
The book draws heavily from Critical Race Theory, a theory with roots in Marxism, and also incorporates radical gender theories. Kaepernick expressed his admiration for Black Marxists by saying, “I’ve long admired Keeanga and Robin’s work as well as their uncompromising political analysis and understanding that Black liberation simply isn’t possible under capitalism. I think the anthology makes this argument quite well, and I hope it challenges readers to see that racism is not white supremacy’s only ingredient. White supremacy persists in part because of its relationship with capitalism, heteropatriarchy, ableism and so on.”
Kaepernick’s viewpoints align with several aspects of contemporary “woke” culture, including acknowledging the concept of “heteropatriarchy.” This term refers to a system of power that places cisgender, heterosexual, white males in a superior and normative position in terms of gender and sexuality expression.
Kaepernick expressed the belief that “Black studies is for everyone,” including black students, non-black students of color, indigenous students and white students. However, he also asserted that “Black studies” is integral to the “white supremacist political project.”
It is worth noting that Kaepernick, who holds anti-capitalist views, resides in a Las Vegas mansion valued at $5.4 million.
Kaepernick’s attempts to provide intellectual justifications for his focus on issues related to racism and white supremacy are seen by some as mere posturing. Critics compare him to other affluent figures like Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Reid, whom they perceive as millionaire race hustlers.
