Nate Burleson, an analyst on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” feels the NFL should sit down with Colin Kaepernick to discuss the quarterback’s initiatives off the field.
Initiatives that, Burleson says, “really work.”
Burleson said, “I feel like the league at some point should talk to Colin Kaepernick and see exactly what he wants to do off the field. We’re talking about football – if he’s not on a team that’s fine. But there are certain things that he’s doing in the community that really work and a lot of players, mainly African-American players, want to follow his lead.”
It’s unclear which of Kaepernick’s community programs Burleson wants the NFL to support.
Earlier this year, the free agent quarterback who started the anthem-kneeling movement, announced that he would donate $1 million to various charities.
In September, the NFLPA gave him an award for his “commitment to empowering underserved communities through donations and grassroots outreach.”
Included on Kaepernick’s charity donation list is a foundation called “Assata’s Daughters.” This is a resistance organization named in honor of Assata Shakur, who escaped prison and fled to Cuba after being convicted of murdering of police officer Werner Foerster in 1973. Kaepernick donated $25,000 to this group.
Another charity on the list is “CopWatch,” an organization that trains individuals to follow and videotape the police. He gave $2,500 to this enterprise.
He also donated $100,000 to organizations helping to support Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
It’s unclear whether Burleson is calling on the NFL to jump on board with these programs. The former NFL wide receiver didn’t specify which of Kaepernick’s community programs that “really work” the league should support.
Some NFL owners might be wary of getting in bed with some of these Kaepernick-back foundations, because the league seems to be losing fans due to the Kaepernick-initiated anthem kneeling.
And “if players, mainly African-American players, want to follow [Kaepernick’s] lead,” this could continue to hurt the NFL’s popularity. Some fans have been turned off by player protests during the National Anthem.
But it’s only fair to point out that Kaepernick did donate money to “Meals on Wheels,” a non-partisan venture providing meals to the hungry.
So if this was what Burleson was referring to, not many people would object to the league supporting this initiative.
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