It doesn’t look as if Colin Kaepernick will be receiving a call from an NFL team anytime soon. In the meantime, the former 49ers quarterback went “home.”
Football’s most controversial free-agent quarterback recently connected with what he termed his “ancestral roots” by traveling to Ghana. He posted video to social media of his trip, which included visiting local villages, former slave-trading sites and a hospital.
Posted, pointedly, on July 4, the video opened with a Frederick Douglass quote:
“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?”
Kaepernick explained in an Instagram post why he made the trip, on which he was accompanied by his girlfriend Nessa, a radio host:
“In a quest to find my personal independence, I had to find out where my ancestors came from. I set out tracing my African ancestral roots, and it lead me to Ghana. Upon finding out this information, I wanted to visit the sites responsible for myself (and many other Black folks in the African Diaspora) for being forced into the hells of the middle passage. I wanted to see a fraction of what they saw before reaching the point of no return.
“I spent time with the/my Ghanaian people, from visiting the local hospital in Keta and the village of Atito, to eating banku in the homes of local friends, and paying my respects to Kwame Nkrumah’s Memorial Park.
How can we truly celebrate independence on a day that intentionally robbed our ancestors of theirs? To find my independence I went home. pic.twitter.com/hniYGJeLxG
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) July 4, 2017
“I felt their love, and truly I hope that they felt mine in return.”
Over the past year, Kaepernick has become the sports world’s most public critic of the flaws of America, taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality and oppression of minorities.
In a recent radio interview, 49ers general manager John Lynch questioned whether the outspoken quarterback truly cared about being in the NFL anymore. Kaepernick’s many critics somehow will connect this theory to his trip to Africa, even though no NFL activities are currently being held and no team has shown interest in the 29-year-old quarterback since he visited the Seahawks more than one month ago.
“I think you are having a little bit of an image crisis in terms of, not so much what you did last year, but people are wondering: Is this most important to you?” Lynch said.
Well, is fielding the most talented players most important to NFL teams?
As a reminder, here’s a list of the quarterbacks who haven’t kneeled during the national anthem, and have been signed ahead of the talented two-way threat, who holds a 72:30 career touchdown/interception ratio and was one play short of leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl victory less than five years ago:
Geno Smith (Giants), Josh McCown (Jets), Josh Johnson (Giants), Mark Sanchez (Bears), Mike Glennon (Bears), Brian Hoyer (49ers), Nick Foles (Eagles), Matt Barkley (49ers), Landry Jones (Steelers), Kellen Moore (Cowboys), Austin Davis (Seahawks), Blaine Gabbert (Cardinals), Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buccaneers), T.J. Yates (Bills), Matt McGloin (Eagles), Aaron Murray (Rams, until being waived), David Fales (Dolphins), Case Keenum (Vikings), Chase Daniel (Saints), EJ Manuel (Raiders).