On Sept. 2, television and film actor Rob Riley took to Instagram to educate legendary NFL receiver Jerry Rice about the Barbados slave code.
However, all of this was inspired by an Aug. 29 tweet from the former NFL player condemning San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest.
The tweet read:
“All lives matter. So much going on in this world today. Can we all just get along! Colin, I respect your stance but don’t disrespect the Flag.”
Subsequently, Riley released a series of videos diving into the code and its influence on American slavery.
In the first post, the actor says that Rice “needs to pick up a book” to understand race relations in this country.
“… You have put down footballs and I think it is time for you to pick up a book,” he starts. “When you read the [Barbados Slave Code] … understand that the slavery we know in America started in the Caribbean— in Barbados … And understand that the laws that govern our country was based on that… And systematically there is a problem in this country. ”
In addition, Riley adds clips of a BBC documentary that explains the code and its history.
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