Monday, March 18, 2024

Parolee Group to ‘Stand’ for Colin Kaepernick at NFL Headquarters; Jersey Headed to Smithsonian

Colin Kaepernick donates custom-made suits outside a New York City parole office
Colin Kaepernick donates custom-made suits outside a New York City parole office

*A New York-based organization that assists parolees in trying to get back into the workforce has organized a show of solidarity for free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, to take place on Wednesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. at NFL headquarters in New York, reports ESPN.

Kevin Livingston, the president of 100 Suits for 100 Men — the nonprofit that received about 50 suits from Kaepernick to help parolees on job interviews — organized the movement after meeting the athlete last month.

“He stood up for us. It’s only right that he took our issues in our communities and brought it to a national level and sacrificed salary and being ostracized by the NFL,” Livingston told ESPN on Monday. “It was only right that we stand up for him.

“We’re not protesting. This is not anti-NFL. This is not going against the police,” continued Livingston, who is expecting about 40 supporters at NFL headquarters. “What we’re doing exactly is we’re showing solidarity to the league on behalf of Colin Kaepernick. This is nothing planned by him. This is all me.

“But I have to say, Colin Kaepernick really moved me when he did that for our community. And so … the reason why I chose [NFL headquarters] is the league needs to see that Colin is being supported. And that we’re buying consumers and that our dollars matter and I don’t think it’s fair the way he’s being treated by the league. I just want to make that very clear.”

Other gatherings Wednesday will be elsewhere in New York (Brooklyn, Harlem); Las Vegas; Milwaukee; Orlando, Florida; Chicago; Houston; Washington, D.C.; Miami; Detroit; Providence, Rhode Island; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Lewiston, Maine. Among the scheduled speakers at Wednesday’s events around the country are former NBA player Etan Thomas, New York State Senator James Sanders Jr., rapper Rah Digga, and Emerald Garner, a daughter of Eric Garner, whose death in 2014 during a police incident sparked demonstrations against police brutality.

In other Kaep news, one of his jerseys worn during his protests against the national anthem will hang at the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers kneels on the sideline during the anthem prior to the game against the Dallas Cowboys on October 2, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers kneels on the sideline during the anthem prior to the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi’s Stadium on October 2, 2016 in Santa Clara, California.

The jersey is included in a three-piece collection of Kaepernick items donated to the museum late last year by sociologist and longtime 49ers consultant, Dr. Harry Edwards.

Edwards donated the items (which include a pair of shoes and a photo of Kaepernick) late last year, and encouraged museum curators to put them up immediately.

“I said, ‘Don’t wait 50 years to try to get some memorabilia and so forth on Kaepernick,’” he told USA Today Sports. “ ‘Let me give you a game jersey, some shoes, a picture … And it should be put right there alongside Muhammad Ali. He’s this generation’s Ali.’ ”

The items haven’t gone up on display yet, but they are expected to become part of an exhibit within the next one to two years.

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