His face appears everywhere in the demonstrations which shake the United States. Four years before the death of George Floyd, the quarterback Colin Kaepernick was already protesting against police violence in this country, kneeling on the national anthem. A gesture that had made him one of the most hated sportsmen in the USA.
Colin Kaepernick has become an icon in the United States since the death of George Floyd. We see everywhere the photo of the former American football player with one knee on the ground, when he peacefully protested against police violence. For you, that should force us to review our judgments when athletes commit.
The only wrong with Colin Kaepernick is that he was right too soon. Throughout the 2016 season, the San Francisco 49ers quaterback knelt on the ground at the time of the American anthem before the matches to protest against the police brutality of which blacks are too often victims in the United States. And because of that he lost everything.
He became the most hated sportsman in his country, because he was accused of not liking America, that of the slogan America First, and behind, he never found a club again. You understand, he could be an excellent player, his image was too tarnished, and that's bad for business. Not a coach, not a club owner came to get him. Nobody.
And there since the death of George Floyd, we see Colin Kaepernick everywhere. Finally not him, he never gives an interview, he is very discreet. But his photo, with a knee on the ground and this legend: "this is why". Do you understand why now?
If the news was not so tragic, if we were not talking about the death of a man and a country that is on fire, it would be almost funny to see this reversal of the collective jacket. Ah yes, he was right, he was only peacefully denouncing a situation that many people pretend to discover or rediscover today, four years later. While Colin Kaepernick did not ask for anything, all he is doing today is supporting the protesters and their cause.
Americans may need a symbol right now, and he can embody it.
Yes, a symbol, because it's the right time. It was not four years ago. Colin Kaepernick's case proves that an athlete cannot make things happen on his own if a country does not want to hear its message. It would perhaps be good if that led us to ask ourselves a few questions and that we now avoid scanning with the back of my hand images that we don't want to see.
Can you imagine if today Colin Kaepernick was still an American football player and that he made the same gestures of protest? He would have quite a part of the Americans behind him. Including many people who paid him no attention in 2016. At that time he was 28 years old, he was very strong in his sport, and all doors closed.
I'm ready to bet that today, at 32, when he hasn't played for four years, he's going to have club proposals. We must not be too naive and imagine that mentalities have changed. Perhaps in part, let's not be too cynical. But it will be mainly because it will be more seller, as an image.