In national anthem protest, Colin Kaepernick makes biggest play of his career

It is still undetermined whether Colin Kaepernick will recapture the magic that he possessed during his first season as a starting NFL quarterback in 2012, when he came off the bench and led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl.

Since then, his career has been derailed by injuries, ineffectiveness and organizational upheaval.

As a man of purpose, though, Kaepernick is suddenly a bigger impact player than he’s ever been.

With his bold statement of protesting racial inequalities — and specifically police brutality against African-Americans in America — Kaepernick has undoubtedly raised the stakes when it comes to social activism by high-profile athletes.

Will 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's protest of national anthem wind up mattering?

His one-man protest on Friday night, and the backlash that came with it after he refused to stand for the national anthem and said he can’t express pride for the American flag, has certainly advanced a national conversation.

No, we’re not living in the 1960s. But amid this increasingly active climate for protest in our nation, Kaepernick has dared to stick his neck on the line more than perhaps any athlete of this generation.

“The fact that it’s blown up,” Kaepernick said this week, “it’s a good thing.”

Sure, NBA players, including LeBron James, have made several social statements in recent years as a response to the types of issues that prompted Kaepernick’s action. In July, some WNBA players took a stand, too, in protesting fines they received for wearing black warm-up shirts to protest the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In November, University of Missouri football players joined the cause of a student on a hunger strike protesting racial inequalities and threatened to boycott a game, prompting the resignation of the school president and chancellor. In 2014, then-St. Louis Rams players made a “hands up” gesture as they were introduced before a game, acknowledging supporters protesting the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

More power to 49ers' Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand against social injustice

Yet Kaepernick’s stand seemingly has taken protest in the sporting world to another level — on the stage of the most popular sport in the nation. He has said he will continue to sit during the anthem, exercising his First Amendment right of freedom of speech and expression, until conditions change.

This is hardly a “safe” move by Kaepernick. It’s a lot riskier than players making a statement — for all the right reasons, mind you — before a made-for-TV awards show on ESPN.  Of all the reaction, the most emotional revolve around respecting the nation’s flag.

“He’s probably catching hell,” Detroit Lions receiver Golden Tate told USA TODAY Sports.

Tate is a friend of Kaepernick, and like many in the NFL community, said that he can relate to the issue that fueled the protest and supports the quarterback’s right to expression. Yet Tate also maintains that he would have found another method to protest — given the emotional fuse that Kaepernick lit with many people who viewed his protest as unpatriotic.

“As a black man in America, I understand to a point,” Tate said. “But you’ve got to understand all perspectives. Especially nowadays.”

The furor ignited by Kaepernick certainly underscores the broad continuum that exists in how individuals view the world. In my view, Kaepernick shouldn’t be labeled as unpatriotic by calling out injustices with the hope of making his nation a better place with equality for all.

In any event, he wasn’t the first and won’t be the last NFL player to protest – which could make Commissioner Roger Goodell and other leaders at NFL headquarters a bit nervous about the idea that their carefully-crafted product will be a vehicle for social statements.

Remember, we’re talking about a league that designates a month to salute the military (and had some teams actually charge for the honor), fines players for uniform violations such as wayward socks and refused to permit the Dallas Cowboys from wearing a decal to promote unity in the wake of the slayings of several police officers in Dallas.

How will the NFL, which established a director of social responsibility after the domestic violence issues of 2014, deal with this?

Eagles rookie reverses course, won't sit in protest during national anthem

Already, some coaches, including Rex Ryan of the Buffalo Bills and Jeff Fisher of the Los Angeles Rams — two coaches who have been on the liberal side for years — indicated they wouldn’t accept a player not standing for the anthem. Others, like Baltimore’s John Harbaugh and Detroit’s Jim Caldwell, have said they would respect a player’s First Amendment rights.

There’s no policy requiring that NFL players stand for the anthem, but Goodell can surely expect that the issue — and others — will keep popping up to further test the NFL’s moral compass and business model.

I like how NBA Commissioner Adam Silver responded to one crisis by declaring that if the issue is important to the league’s players, it’s important to the league.

Well, the NFL climate, with the league’s numerous battles with the NFL Players Association, hasn’t exactly reflected such a spirit of partnership on many issues.

In any event, this issue hits home with so many NFL players — of which more than 70% are African-American.

“At the end of the day, no matter how many people we associate with, we are still black men in America,” Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett told USA TODAY Sports last month at training camp. “So many things are happening to people who look just like us, and they come from the same areas. We have to express what they’re feeling.

“A lot of times, it is our family members dealing with certain types of situations. So we can’t get caught up in this ‘safe zone.’ “

RGJ exclusive: Chris Ault on Kaepernick, 'You never lead by sitting down'

When camps opened, Bennett — who said that he has been most active in promoting healthy lifestyle in minority communities — implored his NFL brethren to be more willing to make social statements. Obviously, in a world now connected through social media, statements can represent one effective method for promoting change. Other action could include investing money, time and other levels of commitments.

And, of course, it’s a personal choice for all of us — not just the athletes — of whether we’ll commit to a particular cause and to what level. Perhaps a residual from the Kaepernick case is that it will inspire others — in all walks of life — to speak out against injustices.

It’s just that NFL players reach the masses in ways that your plumber can’t.

“If you’re going to make a social statement, you have to educate yourself, be prepared for whatever happens,” Baltimore Ravens receiver Steve Smith, Sr. told USA TODAY Sports a couple weeks ago. “If you’re going to make a stand, be prepared to answer the questions and the ridicule you’re going to get. And you can’t stand for everything.”

Few have the stomach to pull off a move like Kaepernick. Not with the risk of jeopardizing livelihoods that pay seven figures for a short period of time.

“Athletes today, we bite our tongue because you don’t want to say something because the next team won’t pick you up,” Rams receiver Kenny Britt, who came up with the “hands up” gesture in 2014, told USA TODAY Sports earlier this summer.

Yet the platform exists, larger than ever. As Kaepernick’s protest proves, the playbook for using that platform is forever evolving.

Follow columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.

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