Colin Kaepernick said he didn’t vote on Election Day and said it didn’t matter who won because of the “systematic oppression” faced by minorities.
“I’ve been very disconnected from the systematic oppression as a whole,” the San Francisco 49ers quarterback said in a conference call. “So, for me, it’s another face that’s going to be the face of that system of oppression. And to me, it didn’t really matter who went in there, the system still remains intact that oppresses people of color.”
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Kaepernick was the first professional NFL player to kneel during a national anthem, a protest he began in the preseason this year and has kept going throughout the regular season. Other NFL players have joined in to protest police brutality and racial injustice.
Trump took notice of Kaepernick, suggesting in August that the quarterback should “find a country that works better for him.”
Kaepernick had never been a fan of Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, however. He called both “proven liars” and said the decision between the two amounted to a choice between “the lesser of two evils.”
Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, who had previously said Kaepernick “personified what a protest is supposed to be,” lashed out against the quarterback’s decision not to participate in the election.
“I don’t want to see him again, I don’t want to hear from him again, I don’t want to hear a damn word about anything that he has to say about our nation, the issues that we have, racial injustices, needing change,” he said on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday. “He comes across as a flaming hypocrite, as far as I’m concerned. … To turn around and not to even take your behind to the polls to vote for a particular candidate — it is shameful, absolutely shameful.”
