*The NAACP chapter in Atlanta is calling for all football fans to boycott NFL games by not watching until a team signs Colin Kaepernick.
As you know, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback has been blackballed due to his decision to kneel during the national anthem prior to NFL games in protest of racism in America.
Despite the criticism, he continues to receive support from fans, activists AND a number of current and former New York City police officers, including retired NYPD officer Frank Serpico, who recently gathered in Brooklyn in support of Kaepernick.
Serpico is best known for whistleblowing on police corruption in the late 1960s and early 1970s, an act that prompted Mayor John V. Lindsay to appoint the landmark Knapp Commission to investigate the NYPD. Much of Serpico’s fame came after the release of the 1973 film “Serpico,” which was based on the book by Peter Maas and which starred Al Pacino in the title role, for which the actor was nominated for an Oscar.
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Gerald Griggs, the vice president of the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter, said that his chapter will boycott the NFL as long as Kaepernick remains unsigned.
“There will be no football in the state of Georgia if Colin Kaepernick is not on a training camp roster and given an opportunity to pursue his career,” Griggs told Fox 5 in Atlanta. “This is not a simple request. This is a statement. This is a demand.”
Griggs said the NAACP plans to have a rally at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons, on Sept. 17 — the day the team play their home opener at their new $1.5 billion stadium, per msn.com.
“If Mr. Kaepernick is not allowed to pursue his career, then on September the 17th, at 5 o’clock, we are going to have the world’s largest tailgate, and that tailgate will not go into Mercedes-Benz Stadium,” Griggs said, according to CBSSports.com. “We will take a knee, and we will continue to take a knee on the NFL until they act with one voice.”
Falcons owner Arthur Blank responded in a statement to Fox 5: “I have long had a record of active opposition to any symbol or behavior that represents exclusion or discrimination, both personally and in keeping with the core values of our businesses. I, along with our Family Foundation, the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, have never and will never waver from that stance.”
Griggs also said the NAACP will gather at NFL headquarters in New York on the same day.
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