Kaepernick wins award
Former NFL QB decries ‘lawful lynchings’ in speech
AMSTERDAM — Amnesty International gave former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick its Ambassador of Conscience Award on Saturday for his kneeling protest of racial injustice that launched a sports movement and might have cost him his job.
Onetime San Francisco 49ers teammate Eric Reid presented Kaepernick with the award during a ceremony in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands.
In his acceptance speech, the award winner described police killings of African Americans and Latinos in the United States as lawful lynchings.
“Racialized oppression and dehumanization is woven into the very fabric of our nation — the effects of which can be seen in the lawful lynching of black and brown people by the police, and the mass incarceration of black and brown lives in the prison industrial complex,” Kaepernick said.
Kaepernick first took a knee during the pre-game playing of the American national anthem when he was with the 49ers in 2016 to protest police brutality.
“How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates, ‘freedom and justice for all,’ that is so unjust to so many of the people living there?” he said at Saturday’s award ceremony.
Other players joined his protest in the 2016 season, drawing the ire of President Donald Trump, who called for team owners to fire such players.
In response to the player demonstrations, the NFL agreed to commit $90 million over the next seven years to social justice causes in a plan.
Amnesty hands its award each year to a person or organization, “dedicated to fighting injustice and using their talents to inspire others.” Previous recipients of the award include antiApartheid campaigner and South African President Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who campaigned for girls’ right to education even after surviving being shot by Taliban militants.
BEARS: Defensive end Akiem Hicks is in the minority in Chicago, a football-minded grinder in a football-crazed city with little to no interest in the upcoming NFL draft. Asked this week whether he at least takes a glance at the ubiquitous prognostications of whom the Bears might select with the No. 8 pick, Hicks shook his head.
“I hate the draft,” he said. “Somebody coming to replace me? No. I haven’t watched the draft since I was in it (in 2012). Let’s put it that way.”
So no thoughts, Akiem, on what the Bears can add in the draft to enliven the defense?
“I don’t like the draft, dude” Hicks reiterated. “I always like to see the same faces.”
That led one local reporter to jokingly suggest an attention-grabbing headline: “Complacent Akiem Hicks prefers no upgrades for Bears defense.”
GIANTS: General manager Dave Gettleman admitted “we’ve had calls” to trade that second overall pick in Thursday’s NFL draft, the Daily News reported. Rumors are floating that New York could be open to a three-way trade idea that includes teams such as the Indianapolis Colts at No. 6 and the quarterback-thirsty Buffalo Bills at No. 12.
VIKINGS: Linebacker Kentrell Brothers has been suspended for the first four games of the season for a violation of the league’s policy on performanceenhancing substances.
Brothers, who can still play and practice in the preseason, is eligible to return to the active roster after the Vikings’ Week 4 game against the Rams on Sept. 27.