The Perilous Fight.

3 JUNE 2020

If you told someone four years ago that an above average quarterback in the NFL would lose his job for standing up against the oppression of colored people, they’d probably say you’re crazy.

That quarterback’s name was Colin Kaepernick. He took the league by storm leading the 49ers to two consecutive NFC Championship games including a trip to the team’s first Super Bowl in nearly two decades. His talent was no question; however, his actions were debatable. On August 26, 2016 Colin Kaepernick took his first kneel down during the national anthem. All of a sudden the then 29-year-old QB had more attention on him than he had in his 2012 Super Bowl run. Following the preseason game Kaepernick addressed the media saying he would not "show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."

There it was. Kaepernick did not hide the harsh reality from people. Did he make people uncomfortable? Yes. Did he have supporters? Yes. Did he have haters? Yes. That’s what the truth does to us. Although many are uncomfortable hearing the truth at first, it is something we all get used to in due time.

Getty Images

A week after Kaepernick shocked the world and took a kneel, the star QB took a kneel once again during the national anthem prior to a preseason game in San Diego. This time he was joined by his teammate, Eric Reid. Although Kaepernick was booed by the home crowd in San Diego throughout the game, there were several fans who still wanted to take a picture and get an autograph from the headstrong athlete.

He was viewed as a disappointment in some fans’ eyes. Many felt like there was no place for this in sports. However, that’s exactly where those people are wrong. This has always been bigger than football and greater than what happens between those white lines.

25 May 2020. Minneapolis, MN.

His name was George Floyd.

TWITTER/RUTH RICHARDSON

It began with a counterfeit $20 bill reported on the evening of May 25. Floyd, 46 was making his usual run to Cup Foods, a grocery store, purchasing a pack of cigarettes. Store owner Mike Abumayyaleh told NBC that Mr. Floyd was a regular at Cup Foods, a pleasant customer who never caused any trouble. However, on the day of the incident, Mr. Abumayyaleh was not in the store. Instead, his teenage employee who was simply following protocol, reported the suspicious $20 note.

In the 911 call, the employee told the operator that he had demanded the cigarettes back after receiving the suspicious $20 bill but "he [Floyd] doesn't want to do that", per a transcript released by authorities. The employee added that Mr. Floyd appeared to be "drunk" and "not in control of himself", the transcript says.

Approximately seven minutes after the call was made, two police officers arrived as Mr. Floyd was sitting in a parked car around the corner with two other people.

As the two officers approached the parked car, one of the officers, Thomas Lane, pulled out his gun and ordered Floyd to show his hands. In an account of the incident, prosecutors did not explain why Officer Lane thought it necessary to draw his gun.

Mr Lane, prosecutors said, "put his hands on Mr Floyd, and pulled him out of the car". Then Mr. Floyd "actively resisted being handcuffed". However, listed below is a conflicting report from CNN with several witnesses claiming Floyd was not “resisting arrest.”

The police account has also been contradicted by at least one witness, Donald Williams, who told CNN he was about to walk into a store when he saw Floyd "panting for his life."

Williams said he heard Floyd telling officers that he couldn't breathe. When Williams asked police what was happening, he said he was told Floyd was "resisting arrest." 

"I said, 'officer, he's not resisting arrest, you have your knee on him and you have handcuffs on him, he's detained at this moment,'" Williams said.

Rashad West -- who owns the Dragon Wok restaurant released the video along with another man, Jared Brewington -- who also disputed claims that Floyd resisted arrest.

"Did not see any resistance, not at all," West told CNN's Don Lemon on Wednesday night of the surveillance video.

Brewington, whose business preceded West's at the same location, agreed that he did not see Floyd resisting arrest.

Then Officer Derek Chauvin arrived at the scene. It was within a matter of six minutes that Chauvin had pulled Floyd out of the passenger side of the car as he fell down to the ground. That is when witnesses in the area began filming what tragically would be Floyd’s final moments.

Chauvin was filmed holding his knee to the back of Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes on Monday

Mr. Floyd was restrained by officers, while Officer Chauvin placed his left knee between his head and neck. Here’s the rundown of Floyd’s final moments according to BBC News:

"I can't breathe," Mr. Floyd said repeatedly, pleading for his mother and begging "please, please, please".

For a total of eight minutes and 46 seconds, Officer Chauvin kept his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck, the prosecutors' report says. 

About six minutes into that period, Mr Floyd became non-responsive. In videos of the incident, this was when Mr Floyd fell silent, as bystanders urged the officers to check his pulse.

One of the other officers, JA Kueng, did just that, checking Mr Floyd's right wrist, but "couldn't find one". Yet, the officers did not move.

At 8:27 P.M. Officer Chauvin removed his knee from Mr. Floyd's neck. Motionless, Floyd was rolled on to a gurney and taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center in an ambulance.

By around 9:30 P.M. Floyd, 46, was pronounced dead.

Did an innocent African-American man have to die for us to look back at Colin Kaepernick’s actions and say “Hey, maybe he was right?”

For taking a knee, Kaepernick was told he was unpatriotic because of how he chose to protest.

For taking a knee, Kaepernick lost his career.

For taking a knee, Kaepernick stood up for his people.

For taking a knee, Kaepernick showed us the truth.

It did not have to come to this. This is exactly what Colin Kaepernick was talking about in 2016 and he acknowledged what some people did not want to see; the truth. The oppression of “colored people.” His people.

Before being a football player, Kaepernick is a man who has his rights. He has the RIGHT to voice his opinion and protest. When the going got rough, the league practically blackballed him out of the league.

I find this rather uncanny as President Obama voiced his opinion on Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem…

The former President of the United States responded: "Well, as I've said before, I believe that us honoring our flag and our anthem is part of what binds us together as a nation. But I also always try to remind folks that part of what makes this country special is that we respect people's rights to have a different opinion."

With that being said, I strongly believe Kaepernick should have a job in the NFL. Not because another police officer killed an innocent, unarmed African-American man. Not because this country is becoming more responsive and sensitive to racial equality. Not because Kaepernick might have more supporters now than he did four years ago. Simply because he believed in something even if it meant sacrificing everything.

At 32, Kaepernick can be a great backup quarterback for a team. Is that a good enough reason for you? He’s better than at least half of the backup QBs in the league and he has value.

In fact in an article written for CNN, former NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart hinted at one NFL team in particular to sign the 32-year-old QB. The Minnesota Vikings. Sitting in the heart of Minneapolis, Lockhart believes that Kaepernick could help bring the community back together following the tragic death of George Floyd.

If that is the case, Kaepernick will be headed to Minnesota as more than just a football player.

“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. …If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right”

- Colin Kaepernick in 2016

Photo: USA Today Sports Images.

We should not make Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck in 2020 be the image that defines change in America.

It will be Kaepernick’s knee on the sidelines in 2016 that we should look at for hope and for change.

- Shyam Ramachandran