Colin Kaepernick compares NFL to slave system

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ASPartOfMe
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01 Nov 2021, 3:45 pm

The Hill

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Colin Kaepernick in his new Netflix special compares the NFL’s draft process to a slave auction, where “teams poke, prod and examine” potential draftees for “defects.”

The former 49ers quarterback likened the two systems in his drama series “Colin in Black & White.”

“What they don’t want you to understand is what’s being established is a power dynamic,” said Kaepernick, the 36th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

“Before they put you on the field, teams poke, prod and examine you searching for any defect that might affect your performance. No boundary respect. No dignity left intact,” Kaepernick added, watching a line of prospective players walk off a training room platform before transforming into shackled slaves approaching an auction block.

“Look at this here! Come on! Who wants this?” an auctioneer says.

“How dare [Colin Kaepernick] compare the evil endured by so many of our ancestors to a bunch of millionaires who CHOSE to play game," wrote former NFL player Burgess Owens, now a Republican Representative in Utah, on Twitter.

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Dox47
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01 Nov 2021, 9:31 pm

He should have quit while he was ahead, now he's just embarrassing himself.

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Tim_Tex
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02 Nov 2021, 5:51 am

Careful, if you disagree with him, you're racist.

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QuantumChemist
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02 Nov 2021, 7:43 am

I have an idea. How about we stop paying all pro athletes huge sums of money? That way they will not feel “forced” to play in a game or be judged by their future potential. If they had to work regular jobs like everyone else for a regular paycheck, maybe they would like that better?

Hint: Put them in the shoes of teachers and see how long they would last.

kraftiekortie
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02 Nov 2021, 7:57 am

The guy makes millions of dollars----give me a break!

Football is a physical game. You have to be an excellent "specimen."

It's obvious that people are going to look at your physical looks.

He's half white, half black by the way.

Fnord
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02 Nov 2021, 8:30 am

He seems to be comparing the draft process itself to a slave auction, not the entire NFL to a league of plantations.

I think people are giving Colin Kaepernick way too much attention.

funeralxempire
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02 Nov 2021, 8:36 am

I can see the angle he's coming from but I understand why so many people are missing the point, they are quite well-compensated for their labour.

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Fnord
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02 Nov 2021, 8:41 am

Some people will take a statement addressing a single flaw in a system, and immediately infer an indictment against the entire system

"The NFL draft is like a slave auction" =\= "The NFL is a slave system"

funeralxempire
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02 Nov 2021, 8:47 am

Fnord wrote:

This seems to be especially common when the real goal is just to dismiss the opinion and the person speaking it.

Person 1: <reasonable, nuanced opinion>.
Person 2: So, <gross oversimplification>?
Also Person 2: Check out this as*hole who believes <gross oversimplification>.

Fnord
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02 Nov 2021, 8:58 am

Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate.

The single most overriding flaw of the NFL is its inherent capitalist monetization of athletics.

kraftiekortie
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02 Nov 2021, 9:55 am

That's the nature of all sports.

I'm not dismissing the guy. I didn't care too much when he kneeled for the National Anthem; I don't believe even his team's owners really cared. Some of the owners supported the movement by the players to kneel for the National Anthem.

But the Draft is a sell-all. People have to show off their physical prowess within the draft "combines." Very, very loosely, it's like a slave market----but to compare it to a slave market is an absurd analogy.

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