What happened to Colin Kaepernick's message?

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly important news stories fade away from the media only to be replaced by new events and happenings. Just a month ago, the National Football League of the US, better known as the NFL, dominated the news all over the globe for the "take the knee" movement that spread across the US. After a few weeks of heated debates, the topic has almost disappeared from the news reports and editorial columns. And because we don't see it in our daily newsfeed, we've stopped talking about it. That is how short-lived a news story is in the age of social media.

The "take the knee" movement started last year on August 26 when Colin Kaepernick, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, refused to stand during the American national anthem before a game. His refusal was in protest against racial inequality and police brutality faced by African Americans and people of colour in his country.

While Kaepernick attracted both supporters and detractors for his form of protest and ultimately lost his job with the NFL, his action kicked off a movement about a couple of months back when President Donald Trump lashed out against the NFL. The American president suggested that the NFL should fire any player who doesn't stand during the national anthem. He stated that not standing during the anthem is showing disrespect to the flag, the US military and the country.

The president's backlash against NFL players sparked a massive uproar that inspired 32 NFL teams across the US to join Kaepernick's "take the knee" movement. More than 200 NFL players were seen kneeling during the anthem, standing with locked arms or with their fists in the air in solidarity with Kaepernick and in defiant protest against President Trump's message which many players considered to be "divisive". After about two weeks of discussions the issue faded away and the movement was waning with only a handful of players protesting. Then the issue resurfaced when Bob McNair, owner of the NFL team Houston Texans, made a comment at a NFL owners' meeting saying, "We can't let the inmates run the prison," referring to the protesting African American NFL players as "prison inmates". A large number of NFL players are African Americans.

Amid all the sound and fury and the never-ending saga centred on the NFL, Colin Kaepernick's message got lost. What was the athlete protesting for in the first place? Why did it all start? Why has the focus shifted from the main message? In a post-game interview last year Kaepernick said he refused to stand during the national anthem because of his views about the treatment of racial minorities in the US. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour," Kaepernick said. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." Kaepernick was referring to the high number of African Americans being fatally shot by police officers on the street.

The NFL games are extremely popular in the US and Kaepernick wanted to use that as a platform to take a stand against racial discrimination and social injustice. But too much attention has been given to his refusal to stand during the anthem instead of focusing on the issue of why Kaepernick was protesting in the first place. Law enforcement officials killed at least 223 African Americans in the year after Kaepernick first started the protest, according to a Huffington Post article published on August 24, 2017, that used data compiled by The Washington Post and The Guardian. Many of the victims were unarmed.

Interestingly, when Kaepernick started his protest a year back, not many NFL players openly supported him. It was only after President Trump made his comments about NFL's protesting players that many NFL players, coaches and some owners joined the "take the knee" movement and expressed solidarity with Kaepernick.

Kaepernick's critics say that his action was "selfish", he is creating a "distraction" and simply seeking attention. They think he has lost his form and "take the knee" was a publicity stunt. Now even if that were true, the fact is that what he is protesting against is something that is irrefutable. Social injustice and racial discrimination are very prevalent in American society and culture. Kaepernick is not simply protesting against systemic racism in the US by taking a knee, he is on a mission to raise awareness about racial inequality among young people.

Last year, he pledged to donate USD 1 million in USD 100,000 increments in ten months from his salary and sales of his jersey to organisations that work with oppressed communities. It's worth mentioning that Kaepernick hasn't received a paycheck from NFL since his contract with NFL ended this March. Even though he wasn't on the team, Kaepernick's jersey sold more than the jerseys of his former teammates from San Francisco 49ers, between the months of March and May. He has almost fulfilled his pledge by donating more than USD 900,000 so far. The list of organisations that received donations from him can be found on his website www.kaepernick7.com. He started the Colin Kaepernick Foundation that is dedicated to end oppression of all kinds globally through education and social activism. He funded a free campaign called "Know Your Rights" for young people which aims at raising awareness through higher education, self-empowerment and instructions to properly interact with law enforcement in various situations. Despite facing harsh criticism for being an "attention seeker", GQ magazine featured Kaepernick on the cover of their "Men of the Year" issue that came out this month, naming him the "Citizen of the Year" in 2017. The title of the story reads "Celebrating the Man who became a Movement."

While NFL talks might be fading away from our newsfeed, another alarming news came to my attention this month. On November 2, a retired New Jersey police chief, Frank Nucera Jr, was arrested on a hate crime charge for making racist comments against African Americans while on duty. According to media reports, the retired police chief of Bordentown, New Jersey, a predominantly white New Jersey township, made a comment that African Americans had "no value" and that they were "like ISIS" and suggested putting them before a firing squad. He instructed his officers to position police dogs at high school basketball games to intimidate young African American students and regularly used racial slurs to describe them. This is precisely the kind of racial discrimination Kaepernick is protesting against.

While we don't know how successful Kaepernick's mission will be, there is no denying the need for it and, more importantly, the need for more people of every race, ethnicity, faith and political view to speak up against racial discrimination and police brutality every time it happens. Kaepernick took the lead and sparked a movement. The rest is up to his fellow Americans, because Kaepernick is correct—racial discrimination and police brutality are bigger than football.

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Lavina Ambreen Ahmed is a freelance journalist based in the US.