Colin Kaepernick ‘Embarrassed’ by Clinton, Trump: ‘They’re Debating Who’s Less Racist’

Colin Kaepernick (Twitter)

Colin Kaepernick (Twitter)

San Fransisco 49er Colin Kaepernick doesn’t feel confident in Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump’s presidential platforms. After seeing “a little bit” of Monday’s debate between the Democratic and Republican nominee, the footballer called the pair “embarrassing.”

USA Today Sports spoke to Kaepernick about his thoughts on the presidential hopefuls.

And the quarterback’s responses were untrusting.

“It was embarrassing to watch that these are our two candidates,” Kaepernick said to reporters Tuesday. “Both are proven liars and it almost seems like they’re trying to debate who’s less racist.”

“At this point … you have to pick the lesser of two evils. But in the end, it’s still evil.”

Kaepernick began protesting during the national anthem a month ago. The move was made to highlight oppression of Black Americans.

“It’s a very ignorant statement that if you don’t agree with what’s going on here, if you want justice, liberty and freedom for all, then you should leave the country,” Kaepernick continued. “[Trump] always says ‘Make America Great Again.’ Well, it’s never been great for people of color.

“That’s something that needs to be addressed. Let’s make America great for the first time.”

The backup QB’s remarks on the debate follow his earlier comments on Trump and Clinton. Two days after his first act of protest on Aug. 26, Kaepernick spoke to Mercury News about the demonstration.

When asked if the fact that 2016 is an election year influenced the action, Kaepernick said, “it wasn’t something that was planned.”

But he did explain the candidates display the racially political issues America is facing.

“I think the two presidential candidates that we currently have also represent the issues that we have in this country right now,” Kaepernick said. “You have Hillary [Clinton], who has called Black teens or Black kids super predators. You have Donald Trump, who is openly racist.

“I mean, we have a presidential candidate who’s deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate,” he continued, touching on Clinton’s email scandal. “That doesn’t make sense to me, because if that was any other person, you’d be in prison.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top