Colin Kaepernick has been a Super Bowl quarterback, a lightning rod and a lifelong student of Black history.
A decade later, he tells the full story in his memoir, The Perilous Fight.
Recently, during a conversation hosted at TBAAL in partnership with Dock Bookstore and moderated by Olympiad Michael Johnson, he spoke candidly about how each chapter of his new book was shaped.
Adopted into a white, middle-class family, Kaepernick recalled being tied to a tree at eight years old by children he considered friends. The lesson stuck: “People being nice to you doesn’t mean they care for you.”
It followed him from Turlock, a town only three to five percent Black, through baseball and into the NFL, where even taking his team to the Super Bowl didn’t shield him from injustice.
Studying Malcolm X, Huey Newton and Angela Davis sharpened his understanding of what he was up against. He expected pushback after his first interview with Steve Wyche, but he could not have predicted facing the wall of all 32 NFL owners and notable political figures.
He did not stand alone. Eric Reid knelt beside him, a steady presence while others who joined the text threads and phone calls fell back in line out of fear and ego.
His question to owners like Jerry Jones: “Why are you so comfortable working against Black folks just trying to live?”
Case in point: the Dallas Cowboys chose to stand and lock arms, in complete disregard for the original gesture of the movement.
What carried him forward was a question: “What is the risk or what is the cost of our inaction?” Asked what gives him hope, he answered without hesitation: “Us.”
He warned that the perilous fight is compounding, citing police brutality, mass incarceration and misuse of tax dollars in Black communities. He stressed that solidarity matters because what hasn’t reached your doorstep today may very well show up tomorrow.
He hopes audiences left ready to act, and resilient in doing so. His Know Your Rights Camp carries that mission forward: to fight for a future where we can thrive collectively.
Lady Lyfe, founder of CR8V Culture, profiles the people and places shaping the culture of creativity.
