On Tuesday we speculated that 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick might not fully grasp that he can vote for dozens, sometimes scores of other politicians and ballot initiatives, not just the presidential race. On Wednesday Kaepernick confirmed he has no idea what happens when you go to the voting booth.
Believing that his vote would simply constitute a choice between the “lesser of two evils,” Kaepernick has been excoriated for not voting by many, including ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. In response, Kaepernick doubled down on his stance.
Kaepernick told ESPN, “I’ve been very disconnected from the systematic oppression as a whole. So, for me, it’s another face that’s going to be the face of that system of oppression. To me, it didn’t really matter who went in there. The system still remains intact that oppresses people of color.”
He really doesn’t get it, even after receiving harsh criticism over the last 48 hours not just here but also on protest-friendly networks such as ESPN. He calls himself an agent of change, yet declines to participate on the most important day of change in the country, and continues to reference the presidential ballot without any acknowledgment of the dozens of other races and issues that he could affect with his vote.
What exactly does Kaepernick think will bring about the “change” he claims to want? Most activists at least pretend to have a solution to the problems which cause them to protest. Leftist agitators from Marx to Black Lives Matter have all feigned manifestos or agendas that addressed their respective issues.
Kaepernick, meanwhile, has not proposed any significant solutions. If he refuses to vote or do anything other than kneel, what exactly is the end game here? Does Kaepernick literally believe that he will kneel his way to stopping police brutality, or whatever his current cause?
Martin Luther King held rallies, lobbied Congress, and got himself arrested to pass the Civil Rights Act. In Kaepernick’s world MLK simply had to take a knee, right? Does Kaepernick sit around lamenting all the Chicken Vindaloo that Gandhi could have eaten while kneeling, instead of nearly starving himself to death and organizing civil disobedience rallies?
It’s not too far-fetched to imagine that Kaepernick thinks he can change the world through kneeling. After all, he also seems to think that president is all you can vote for on Election Day.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn
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