Police in Santa Clara threaten to boycott working San Francisco 49ers home games because of Colin Kaepernick’s expressed hostility to law enforcement.
The quarterback sat for the national anthem a week ago Friday before a game at Levi’s Stadium against the Green Bay Packers and took a knee during “The Star Spangled Banner” on Thursday before a game against the Chargers in San Diego.
In justifying the gridiron protests, he claimed that cops receive less training than cosmetologists and departments reward officers with paid leave when they kill civilians. Kaepernick subsequently wore socks depicting policemen as pigs at practice this week.
“There is police brutality,” Kaepernick noted at a press availability last Sunday. “People of color have been targeted by police. So that’s a large part of it, and they’re government officials— they are put in place by the government. So that’s something that this country has to change…. Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and more training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us.”
The Bay Area’s NBC affiliate broke the story of the threatened police boycott of 49ers games at Levi’s Stadium. The news organization says that about 70 Santa Clara officers work games at the stadium.
The Santa Clara Police Officers’ Association claimed Kaepernick’s actions “threatened our harmonious working relationship” with the NFL franchise. The group says that if the 49ers fail to take action against their outspoken player their members may take action against the team.
Not reining in the quarterback, the group tells the 49ers, “could result in police officers choosing not to work at your facilities.”
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