Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know

[hand2handking]

Colin Kaepernick just signed a $1 million book deal

https://www.avclub.com/colin-kaepernick-just-signed-a-1-million-book-deal-1819826901

Page Six is reporting that quarterback Colin Kaepernick has just signed a book deal with Random House, reportedly for more than $1 million. The former 49ers player presumably has plenty of writing time on his hands at present, as he’s not currently signed to an NFL team—a status that we’re sure has absolutely nothing to do with the NFL protest movement he began last year, and which has now spread to numerous players on multiple other teams.

This isn’t the only time Kaepernick—who began taking a knee during NFL games last season, in protest against police violence against black people and other minorities—has made headlines in recent weeks. He also recently filed an accusation of collusion against numerous NFL owners, accusing them of freezing him out of the league for political reasons.


There’s no word yet on what topic Kaepernick’s book will cover—or how Donald Trump will try to use his Twitter influence to freeze him out of speaking his mind this time—but he reportedly signed with Random House’s One World imprint, which also publishes works from JAY-Z and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

 

[hand2handking]

I Was A Racist Cop
How I came to recognize my own racism, bias, and privilege as a white male.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-was-a-racist-cop_us_59ef6b76e4b0bf1f88362209

[trigger warning: racial slurs and offensive language]

I was a racist cop.

Years ago, I was helping a supervisor at a single-car crash. A black man collided head-on into a concrete divider, and died at the scene. I was detouring the ensnarled traffic when my corporal, who had been alongside the victim, shared an update.

“When I got here he was alive, but fading. His eyes were opening and closing real slow and I could feel his pulse slowing down.” He paused, and with the smoothness of a perfectly timed punch line, the corporal said “So, I whispered in his ear, ‘Today is the day you die, ******.’”

I stood horrified.

Then, I did nothing.

Silence is the culture of many police departments. In my second year as a cop ― a career that would span more than a decade across three states ― I was taught the ramifications of speaking out. After a sergeant stole from an impounded car, another whistleblower and I reported him up the chain of command. Within days, I was fired. It was just before Christmas; young, a child on the way, and now my fledgling career tarnished. I received the message loud and clear: Do not kneel.

Suspicious Behavior
With crime trends near record lows, the expense of policing must be justified. Rather than focus on building relationships with communities, officers rely on “proactive policing”: tactics to escape scorn from the administration over low arrest numbers. “Mechanics fix cars, pilots fly planes, cops lock up bad guys,” an old captain used to lecture. This leads to enforcement for the sake of a spreadsheet. The easiest way to add digits is to go to poor neighborhoods and profile ― typically ― young African American and Latino men. Stop, frisk, question, and search, simply because they looked “suspicious.”

“He didn’t look at me.” Suspicious. “He kept looking at me.” Suspicious. “He was running.” Suspicious. “He was walking too slowly or biking too fast.” Suspicious. “It’s too early or too late; they have no business outside at this time of night; at this time of day.” Suspicious. “They are in the wrong neighborhood, wrong side of the neighborhood, or hanging out too much in their own neighborhood.” Suspicious.

Rarely, I found a gun or wanted felon. Never did these intrusive fishing expeditions result in the capture of a murderer or rapist. Never. But the arrests satisfied the front office and gave me the affirmation I needed to justify my role.

A Common Thread of “Bad Guys”
During my career, I attended four training academies and a slew of advanced classes. The common thread in all this training was an overemphasis on tactical situations, ultimately teaching us to be afraid—especially of black and brown people. Cadets were barraged with graphic imagery and war stories of violence by African Americans or Latinos until eventually, in our minds, “black guys” became synonymous with “bad guys.”

Daily, I arrested mostly poor, young people of color on petty charges. The discrimination was insidious. I pointed sanctimoniously to the prison cages and said, “See? It’s a breakdown of morality in their community.” This absolved me of my personal responsibility to protest when I saw wrongdoing, leaning instead on simplistic moral judgments like “If you don’t like it, don’t get arrested.”

During my first visit to one county jail, one of the imprisoned aptly announced: “Welcome to Amistad!” It didn’t look all that different. I routinely saw cages packed with mostly African American and Latino men 30 or 40 deep in spaces intended for 10 or 15. I saw people fed rotten food and endure unbearable jail conditions.

I knew this was wrong, but dehumanization had set in. Gathered outside one police station with a dozen or so officers, another cop called out, “Hey Shrewsberry, you know why southerners hate Yankees? Because y’all think ******s are people too.” Laughter erupted.

What did I do?

I laughed along.

Then, nothing.

What’s Next for Me?
Racism persists in America for complex and varied reasons. Indifference is one of them. I have a moral compass, but it was safer for me to ignore it. But by neglecting my moral responsibility to do something ― to kneel ― I co-signed this bigoted behavior.

While speaking of racial bias in 2015, then-FBI Director James Comey said “...if we can’t help our latent biases, we can help our behavior in response to those instinctive reactions... it is what we do next that matters most.”

What is next? For me, it’s the recognition of my own racism, bias and privilege as a white male. Professionally, I’ve challenged my conceptions about police shootings, mass incarceration, the war on drugs, and “stop and frisk,” all of which impact people of color disproportionately, with devastating effects to families and communities. I question why Native Americans are killed by the police at five times the rate of Caucasians, African Americans are killed at three times the rate, and Latinos nearly twice. I’ve realized the need to speak openly about my experience and, more importantly, to listen to others in order to construct solutions together. I hope doing so will give still-active officers the courage to do what I did not ― to speak out when they see injustice. To kneel.

Racism isn’t the only problem facing our criminal justice system, but it’s one that exacerbates nearly every other issue. Race can be an uncomfortable topic. Whiteness in America is afforded comfort, which encourages inaction even when we are faced with deeds, statements, and attitudes we know are wrong. Protests are designed to awaken, and start conversations. Many great achievements throughout our history are rooted in protest, but to reach these successes, we must be willing to sacrifice comfort.

Silence imposes the moral obligation of fighting injustice onto someone else. I don’t know Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback who knelt during the national anthem to protest unjust policing, but I’m confident he would’ve preferred to stand amongst his teammates, comfortable within a fair and just system. Instead, he took a knee.

Because I did not.

 

[cosmiccoffee9]

I Was A Racist Cop
How I came to recognize my own racism, bias, and privilege as a white male.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-was-a-racist-cop_us_59ef6b76e4b0bf1f88362209

****. to have THAT be the last thing you hear in this life. I do not have the words.

I guess it's cool that the cop realized the error of his ways, but how many lives did he ruin in the meantime? how many are out there just like him?


...this is exactly why.

 

[ahat]

FTP

 

[Fresh Like Will]

F*** that epiphany bull****! He's already ruined lives and destroyed families. Put away innocent people and abused his authority to strengthen systemic racism.

He can kindly go f*** himself.

 

[hand2handking]

 

[Maximus Meridius]

 

[layziegunts]

man eff the Cowboys and that bastard Jerry Jones

 

[whoisthisguy]

F*** Jerry Jones

 

[Brownstone]

Hope my squad signs him

 

[tay1]

Sources: Colin Kaepernick to join players, NFL owners in next round of talks

When the NFL meets with players and their representatives next week to discuss how the league can better support activism efforts by players, it is expected that Colin Kaepernick will be invited to participate in that discussion.


In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, NFL Executive Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Joe Lockhart said that he expects players to invite Kaepernick to be part of the discussion, but he does not know whether Kaepernick will attend the meeting, the Washington Post reports.


“I expect he will be invited to this meeting,” Lockhart said. “We look forward to him joining the conversation.”
https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-co...rs-nfl-owners-next-round-talks-165637789.html

 

[Maximus Meridius]

He should show with some of them FOI brothas like

 

[fluid hips]

I Was A Racist Cop
How I came to recognize my own racism, bias, and privilege as a white male.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/i-was-a-racist-cop_us_59ef6b76e4b0bf1f88362209

Best believe karma will come knocking

 

[AL Andretti]

 

[wallyhopp]

Wow. She resigned then got hired somewhere else. Im glad she felt isolated. No one wants a trigger happy partner. She needs another job. 80% of these officers shouldn't be officers.

It's all the unions backing though. Plus they cover court fees in cases like this. Any other non union profession, if a 'mistake' of this
Magnitude was made, you lose your darn job. But im guessing we would be out of qualified cops if all the wackos were fired for doing stupid unsafe stuff.

Like I've been saying for awhile, justified or not, in many cases we see 13 officers not use a gun and one decides to shoot up a black guy. If these bad or stupid or ill qualified cops are outed and forced out, community perception would be much better. But right now, the perception is that they are untouchable and rehireable. Super scary stuff

Just like in the corporate world, if you give bad publicity to your company, you're fired. This isn't just bad publicity. You're killing people. They shouldn't be getting passes.

 

[kingfoamnyc]

Wowzers

 

[nawghtyhare]

yo this **** is ****ing nuts man
I'm tired of this ****

 

[Maximus Meridius]

Not surprised. My mind is set that it's a straight one sided war.

 

[trueprada]

 

[iamdef]

"We can't have the inmates running the prison."
Honestly at this point Idc how important winning a ring is, if I'm on this team I'm not playing for this dude.

 

[Mark Antony]

Let's see if they get outraged by this.

 

[Maximus Meridius]

This whole thing is exposing a lot of people. Just let 'em talk enough... That racism is like turrets.

 

[ace rawstein]

Man the recaps coming out of the NFL meetings look bad.

Nothing is going to shake... at least in the favor of the players

 

[iamdef]

Nothing will ever shake in their favor if they all keep covering their eyes and ears

 

[nawghtyhare]

Man the recaps coming out of the NFL meetings look bad.

Nothing is going to shake... at least in the favor of the players