Key voice is missing
Colin Kaepernick’s voice has been absent from the NFL’s talks about protests
There has been kneeling and there has been sitting. There have been meetings and there have been tweets. Lots of tweets. There has been anger and there has been grandstanding.
But throughout one of the most divisive periods in American sports history, there has also been an unwelcome silence. Of all the voices we’ve heard on the issue of the NFL national anthem protests, the one that has been missing is the one that is the most important, that of Colin Kaepernick.
On Wednesday, hopes were raised that Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who first took a knee during the national anthem in the 2016 NFL preseason, would finally be joining the controversial national conversation he triggered so many months ago.
As the NFL plans to hold another meeting next week with players and owners to discuss issues of social injustice, NFL vice president of communications Joe Lockhart told reporters on a Wednesday conference call that Kaepernick is likely to be one of the invitees.
“My understanding is Colin Kaepernick has been invited to these last two meetings,” Lockhart said. “He has been in the discussion with the players’ coalition. I expect that he will be invited to this meeting (next week). We look forward to him joining the conversation, but I don’t have any confirmation that he’s planning to attend.”
This sounds like such a promising development. One wonders how Kaepernick has stayed out of this conversation for as long as he has, and wishes that the president of the United States had such willpower.
Kaepernick, who turns 30 next week, is said to be training in case an NFL team calls him, although he recently filed a lawsuit claiming that collusion by NFL owners has kept him out of the league.
Is it possible this legal action is keeping him out of these meetings as well?
Kaepernick’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, issued a statement last week saying Kaepernick did not receive an invitation from “any official from the NFL or any team executives” to the Oct. 17 meeting between players and owners at NFL headquarters.
“Other players wanted him present and have asked that he attend the next meeting with the goal of forging a lasting and faithful consensus around these issues,” Geragos said. “Mr. Kaeper- nick is open to future preparation on these important discussions.”
Geragos did not return a phone call and email to his office Wednesday.
So here we are. It’s quite clear the players want Kaepernick at next week’s meeting. Frankly, I think most of America wants him there, whatever side of the issue you’re on. His peaceful protest has led us into the important intersection of sports and culture, with President Trump lobbing in his incendiary thoughts like 140character hand grenades.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has done his best to tune out Trump and encourage constructive dialogue and action from the players and teams in their communities. Despite Trump’s best efforts to divide us, the NFL is actually trying to unite its players and owners, and, by extension, all of us. This is a very good development.
It will be an even better one if Kaepernick gets back involved himself, the sooner the better. For legal reasons, he might be silenced, understandably and unfortunately, at least for now. That would explain his absence from these meetings.
But he can’t be silenced forever. On this issue, in this league, at this time, there is no voice more valuable, or more necessary.