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A decade after taking a knee: Colin Kaepernick's activism endures
Ten years after Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem, the former NFL quarterback remains a symbol of protest against racial injustice. He now focuses on activism through his foundation and memoir, while his lawsuit against the NFL and the league's response continue to shape his legacy.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 7 mastheads · 8 articlesVersion 3Coverage Published
Colin Kaepernick still watches football, but not the NFL. In a recent interview with NBC News, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback said he prefers college games, explaining, "I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well."
Ten years after he took a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality, Kaepernick, now 38, remains a figure whose activist work has outlasted his football career. He led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season and hasn't played since the 2016 season finale.
The origins of the protest
Kaepernick's protest began on Aug. 14, 2016, when he sat on the bench during the anthem in a preseason game. He repeated the action in two August exhibitions before Sept. 1, 2016, when he knelt during the anthem in a preseason game. That night, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Steven Powell sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" as Kaepernick, then 28, placed his right knee on the ground.
According to an Associated Press account, Kaepernick moved from sitting to kneeling after connecting with former NFL player and retired Green Beret Nate Boyer, who suggested kneeling would be more respectful to the military. NBC News reported that Kaepernick said former teammate Eric Reid suggested kneeling; Boyer said he doesn't dispute that Reid may have suggested it.
Kaepernick's protest was not a sudden act, he wrote in a statement announcing his memoir, "The Perilous Fight," which is set for release on Sept. 15. The title is borrowed from a passage of the anthem. The protest aimed to draw attention to racial injustice, minority oppression, and police brutality.
Harry Edwards, a sociologist and then-49ers advisor, predicted the protest would become a major issue, according to the AP.
Backlash and legal battle
The backlash was swift. Then-President Donald Trump called kneeling players a "son of a bitch." As many as 200 players took a knee during the 2017 season, per the AP. Kaepernick threw his 1,692nd and final NFL pass—a 9-yard touchdown to Garrett Celek—in that season's finale.
Kaepernick and Reid, who knelt alongside him, filed a grievance against the NFL in October 2017, citing collusion. The two sides settled in early 2019. Kaepernick worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022 but has not played since.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged in 2020 that the league misstepped in its handling of the protests, and he said he didn't believe Kaepernick was blackballed, according to NBC News. Goodell's June 2020 video message condemned racism and admitted wrong. Kaepernick, however, criticized the league's actions as "performative" and said he hasn't watched an NFL game since leaving the league. The NFL said it remains committed to supporting meaningful progress.
Activism and legacy
During his hiatus, which became a retirement, Kaepernick and his wife Nessa have hosted "Know Your Rights" camps to educate young people. His foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including recently for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells. The ACLU presented Kaepernick with an activism award in July 2026.
Marcellis Perkins was inspired by Kaepernick to form Men of Color Athletes, according to the AP. Cam Heyward, a player, said Kaepernick was a "hell of a talent" and "paid the price with his career."
Asked in the NBC News interview whether he thinks about his legacy, Kaepernick said it doesn't cross his mind. "What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together," he said. "At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that's a positive one."
How each outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
Colin Kaepernick still watches football, but prefers college games to the NFL.
Kaepernick is 38 years old, led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, and hasn't played since the 2016 season finale.
Kaepernick said, "I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well."
Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid sued the NFL citing collusion; the two sides settled in early 2019.
Kaepernick's 'Know Your Rights' camps educate young people and his foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including recently for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.
Kaepernick said he doesn't think about his legacy; he said, "What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together."
Kaepernick added, "At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that's a positive one."
Framing: Measured and neutral, reporting Kaepernick's statements without overt editorializing.
Facts Included:
Colin Kaepernick still watches football, but prefers college games to the NFL.
Kaepernick is 38 years old, led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, and hasn't played since the 2016 season finale.
Kaepernick said, "I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well."
Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid sued the NFL citing collusion; the two sides settled in early 2019.
Kaepernick's 'Know Your Rights' camps educate young people and his foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including recently for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.
Kaepernick said he doesn't think about his legacy; he said, "What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together."
Kaepernick added, "At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that's a positive one."
Framing: Measured and neutral, reporting Kaepernick's statements without overt editorializing.
Facts Included:
Colin Kaepernick still watches football, but prefers college games to the NFL.
Kaepernick is 38 years old, led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, and hasn't played since the 2016 season finale.
Kaepernick said, "I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well."
Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid sued the NFL citing collusion; the two sides settled in early 2019.
Kaepernick's 'Know Your Rights' camps educate young people and his foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including recently for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.
Kaepernick said he doesn't think about his legacy; he said, "What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together."
Kaepernick added, "At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that's a positive one."
Framing: Highlights Kaepernick's claim of being blackballed and his shunning of the NFL a decade after kneeling
Facts Included:
Colin Kaepernick still watches football but shuns the NFL
Kaepernick told NBC News he prefers to watch college football
Kaepernick is 38 years old
He led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season
He hasn't played since the 2016 season finale
His exile began after he started taking a knee during the national anthem to highlight social injustices
Kaepernick said: 'I’m not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well'
Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid sued the NFL citing collusion
The two sides settled in early 2019
Kaepernick's 'Know Your Rights' camps educate young people
His foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells
Kaepernick said he doesn't think about his legacy, but about work that will have an impact and help move toward the future
He said: 'At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that’s a positive one'
Framing: Emphasizes Kaepernick's claim of being blackballed and his decade-long shunning of the NFL, using the term 'blackballing' in quotes. — Measured and neutral, reporting Kaepernick's statements without overt editorializing.
Facts Included:
Colin Kaepernick still watches football, but prefers college games to the NFL.
Kaepernick is 38 years old, led the 49ers to a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, and hasn't played since the 2016 season finale.
Kaepernick said, "I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well."
Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid sued the NFL citing collusion; the two sides settled in early 2019.
Kaepernick's 'Know Your Rights' camps educate young people and his foundation helps pay for independent autopsies, including recently for Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.
Kaepernick said he doesn't think about his legacy; he said, "What I think about is what are the areas that I can do work that I think are going to have an impact and help us move towards that future together."
Kaepernick added, "At the end of the day, people will decide what that legacy is, and hopefully that's a positive one."
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimColin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem on Sept. 1, 2016.
ClaimKaepernick said: 'I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well.'