Colin Kaepernick’s America

Updated Oct. 21, 2024

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Overview

Beginning in 2016, professional football player Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, knelt during the national anthem when it was played before National Football League (NFL) games, as a means of raising awareness of racial and social inequality and protesting police brutality against minorities. After becoming a free agent, Kaepernick experienced difficulty being hired by another NFL team and formally lodged a legal case against the NFL. In 2018, Nike signed Kaepernick as a spokesperson, a decision that sparked ongoing controversy. President Donald Trump publicly condemned Kaepernick, while multiple small religious colleges canceled their contracts with Nike. Other athletes, including Megan Rapinoe, captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, which won the World Cup in 2019, have risen to Kaepernick’s defense.

Background

Familiarize yourself with the evolution of this issue through these tracker entries:

Protesting racial injustice, Colin Kaepernick ignites culture wars, political feud, legal battle

and

Nike presents Kaepernick as the face of a new ad campaign, defying critics

The Incident and Its Aftermath

Related Incidents

The Role of Free Speech

Read this article and discuss the role of companies in relation to their employees’ Free Speech rights.  What are their motivations? How do these motivations intersect with or diverge from the First Amendment? 

What the NFL’s new rules for Anthem protests really mean for the First Amendment, according to experts, The Washington Post, May 24, 2018

“Colin Kaepernick protest fallout showed ‘really how a lot of the White people see us,’ NFL legend says,” Fox News, December, 14, 2023

“Letters to the Editor: Why no takers for Colin Kapernick? NFL owners have good reasons,” Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2023

“Professional athletes have the right to express their opinion, just like every other American” Americans for Prosperity, June 22, 2023

The Role of Free Speech since Kaepernick

Kaepernick has inspired a cadre of athletes across all major sports to protest systemic racism and police brutality. Familiarize yourself with some of these protests with these articles:

Options for Discussion

Please choose from one of the three following options.

Option A

Divide the students into groups and ask each group to read one of the following articles:

Ask each group to discuss its article and then present a summary of the article to the whole class. Each group should identify the tensions the article surfaces. 

Option B

In small groups, students discuss the following question: 

  1. How can and should employees express their constitutional right to Free Speech while complying with their companies’ policies?

Share summaries with whole group.

Option C

Encourage students to examine critically the role NFL has played in this issue after reading these articles:

 

Discuss the criticism the organization and its leadership have faced. What are the tensions that surface here between private companies who employ highly visible individuals?

Discussion Questions

  1. How do you feel about Kaepernick? Was he right? Was he wrong?
  2. Discuss your position on Kaepernick’s actions. Is it an effective way to protest police brutality?
  3. Or does it do more harm than good, including the perception of some that kneeling during the anthem is disrespectful to U.S. troops? 
  4. How does Kaepernick’s protest fit into the politicization of Free Speech? Is Free Speech a political issue? Why or why not?
  5. Consider Kaepernick’s role in Nike’s ad campaign and how Nike has profited from it. Does the commercialization of protest mitigate its efficacy? 
  6. Should high school students be allowed to imitate Kaepernick’s actions? What about college students? Employees in the workplace? 
  7. Sports are a business, of course.  Does the NFL, as a corporation, have the right to limit players’ protest? Has it been unfair to Kaepernick or has he benefited from his standoff with the football establishment?

Activity

Click on these themes below: Professional Consequences

Deselect the Education category

Discuss: What patterns emerge? What do these repercussions tell us about incentives or obstacles to exercising Free Speech in a professional setting?

Tracker Entries

Themes

Categories