NFL defensive back Eric Reid (Image source: Instagram – @e_reid35)
Colin Kaepernick slammed the NFL during opening day on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020, saying its social justice initiatives amounted to nothing more than “propaganda” and are flagrantly hypocritical.
How is it possible, Kaepernick questioned on Twitter, that the NFL cares about social justice and racial equality and yet allegedly is blackballing his friend Eric Reid?
In March, Reid, 28, was deemed one of the best defensive backs in the NFL by ESPN, yet he remains unsigned by any team. Reid was one of the players who joined Kaepernick, 32, in kneeling during the 2016 season when both were members of the San Francisco 49ers.
More than 76,000 people liked the tweet, while another 24K retweeted the post that called the NFL on the carpet.
While the NFL runs propaganda about how they care about Black Life, they are still actively blackballing Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) for fighting for the Black community. Eric set 2 franchise records last year, and is one of the best defensive players in the league. https://t.co/KQXTaOCcnU
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 13, 2020
Reid was released by the Carolina Panthers at the end of last season in a move that took some sports pundits and fellow players by surprise. No explanation for Reid’s release was given by the Panthers.
In 2016, Kaepernick, 32, was maligned and vilified for sitting, then kneeling, during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality and judicial injustice. Kaep has not played in the NFL since.
The NFL, which paid Kaepernick and Reid millions to settle a collusion lawsuit in 2019, has changed course. Commissioner Roger Goodell now says he wished that he had listened to what Kaepernick was fighting for years ago.
The league’s social justice initiatives on Sunday included the words “End Racism” and “It Takes All of Us” in the end zones. Some players wore helmet stickers featuring the names of victims of racism, while others had social messaging on the backs of their helmets.
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