Recently Mike Vick made some comments regarding ostracized NFL QB Colin Kaepernick and what he feels he needs to do in order to get a job in the NFL. His comments were as follows.
"It has nothing to do with him being blackballed. The gesture that he made last year when he took the stand to do what he did, listen, we all appreciated it, we respected it, and it was a good thing. I really think the stand that he took has nothing to do with him not having a job playing in the National Football League right now."
He went on to say....
“The first thing we got to get Colin to do is cut his hair. I don’t think he should represent himself in that way in terms of the hairstyle. Just go clean cut. Why not?”
Now Mike Vick has since rescinded those remarks, but that damage has been done. Open mouth-insert foot. There seems to be a growing narrative in this situation from people like Mike Vick that is based on a gross fallacy. People feel that Colin Kaepernick NEEDS a job in the NFL. People carry on with the sentiment as though if he doesn't get a starting job by the time training camp starts he will be in the unemployment line and applying for a SNAP card.
Colin Kaepernick has a net worth of 22 million dollars. He can live comfortably as a civilian for the rest of his life and NEVER have to work again. The narrative of "he needs to conform to the standards of the NFL owners" is dismissive balderdash and proof of someone who bases an argument on popular tripe rather than researching the facts for themselves. He doesn't need their money. He WANTS to play in the National Football League, yes. He doesn't NEED to play in the National Football League, nor is he complaining about not being there and I think that fact is what really irritates his detractors.
Just like Muhammad Ali WANTED to box, but was content with the consequences that came from refusing induction into the US Armed Forces, and lost 3 years of his career. Even in that situation you saw the true agenda. They didn't draft him because they NEEDED him to fight in Vietnam. They did it because they did not like his Islamic views and being on a pedestal of being the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Ali was a polarizing, yet magnetizing figure with his charm, his wit, and his intelligence. More people liked him than hated him and that married with his dominate abilities in the ring would make him too strong of a voice to ignore. We have to remember that this is the era where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John F. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated because of their views that challenged the status quo in their respective positions. They didn't want Ali as an ambassador of America in a time where things were still very volatile in this country. So they concocted this plot to strip him of the title and get him off of TV. However it backfired and Muhammad Ali wound up becoming bigger than he was before. The plan to silence him had the opposite effect and gave him the platform he actually wanted to address his views to a much wider audience.
OOPS! Back to Kaepernick.
It annoys them that whenever you see him he has a smile on his face. It annoys them when they see him giving money away to charity and helping less fortunate people. It annoys them when they see him doubling-down on his social and political views and not backing down. You know why? It's because it shows that the establishment CANNOT CONTROL HIM and that is really what is at the source of this whole situation. It's not about flags, it's not about hair, and it's not about his alleged "diminishing play-ability" which also is a load of crap. If you look at his stats here they are clearly good enough to play in this league.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/14001/colin-kaepernick
The point however is that when you eliminate all the red-herrings, ad-hominems, and semantics, at the core this all comes down to the issue of control. What is happening to Colin Kaepernick now is eerily similar to the issue he is protesting. We are seeing people of ethnicity being killed in cold-blood and police officers not being charged for it with only a few exceptions here and there. No one wants to address it. No one wants to talk about it, and no one wants us to fix it. They want to control all of us no matter what your skin tone is. However in our case as people of color, it's even more so because some people in positions of power fear us. Not so much because of what we can do to them, but it comes from guilt of what THEY have done to US.
When they see someone like Colin Kaepernick that has the nerve to trample on the idolatry they hold so dear, that infuriates them. The hypocrisy is very transparent. Kap has all kinds of tattoos covering his arms. Nobody said anything, nor should they. When Kap did his little biceps-kiss celebration after a rushing TD, no one had a problem with that act, or his bare tattooed arms being shown. Kap has had the afro for more than a year now. No one cared. Now all of a sudden it is a image problem? Larry Fitzgerald is the face of the Arizona Cardinals. Not Carson Palmer. He has dreadlocks. Does anyone say that he needs to cut his dreads in order to be a leader in that locker room, or an ambassador for the NFL? No. Of course not. The whole hair thing is just a media concoction to spin this narrative to get more juice out of it. That's all.
Kaepernick is better than half the QBs in this league and is only 29. His skills are not an issue. He said that he will stand for the Nation Anthem now. That is not an issue. So he has let up somewhat on his stance within reason, but because he won't back down and completely sell-out to get a job, now we've got to make up NEW reasons to keep him out. It's a joke. It's all about control. As long as Kaepernick was out-dueling Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs and spinning Clay Matthews around like a top, people were just fine with his look. JUST like people were fine with Mike Vick and his corn-rows when he was the starting QB for the Atlanta Falcons. Why was it fine? Simple. It was because Vick, Kap, RGIII (when he was with Washington) was generating MONEY for the NFL. Look at Allen Iverson. I'm sure suits in high places didn't care for his tattoos, excessive jewelry, corn-row, and lavish hip-hop lifestyle. However a lot of the youth in this country looked up to Allen Iverson because when they saw him they saw themselves. When Michael Jordan retired (the second time he left a gaping whole in the NBA. The strike didn't help matters either. Allen Iverson helped bring a lot of people back to the game and a whole audience as well. He generated CASH for the NBA. So they left his uniqueness alone.
As long as you can make them money the owners can care less about your look. They will leave you alone until or unless you start breaking the law. Then of course justifiably they have to take action. That's understandable. However, when you are no longer an elite player or perceived to be an elite player, then they find any excuse they can to cast you off and appearance and/or lifestyle choices are easy and prime targets. That's how business works unfortunately, but it's high-grade hypocrisy. You can't financially-capitalize on the uniqueness of a player's appearance in one aspect, then turn around and say that there is a fundamental-error in the act itself when that uniqueness is no longer paying you financial dividends. Even cranked-up to an even higher-level if you challenge the established order in any way. Just ask Craig Hodges.
On a visit to the White House with the NBA Champion Chicago Bulls team, Hodges wrote a letter to then president George H.W. Bush about what he felt needed to happen to change the climate in the country. After this Hodges was not brought back to the Chicago Bulls and found himself in the same situation that Kaepernick is in now where no team wanted to touch him with a 10-foot pole.
So enclosing let me be fair. No NFL owner is obligated to sign Colin Kaepernick to a contract. They have every right to hire and fire whomever they wish. They are entitled to the same first-amendment rights that Colin Kaepernick is entitled to. That being said, stop the lying. Stop with the red-herrings diverting attention away from the issue at hand. There is a sickening problem in this country that needs to be eradicated. If Colin Kaepernick hadn't done what he did, someone else would have. When a peaceful-protest gets you shunned from society, our society has a bleak-future indeed.
