Months After Facing Hate for Accusing Parents of Racism, Colin Kaepernick Goes Deep on Not Letting His Identity Stripped

Colin Kaepernick is back again. After his comments on his adoptive parents, the QB released his graphic novel to talk about the kind of racism he faced from them. In one of such events from the book, Kaperenick depicted that his mother disapproved of his choice of girl for his prom, just because the girl was black. While there are still divisive opinions, about Kaepernick’s stand, in the NFL world, this time he has something else to say about his parents. He has opened up about another interesting event in his life.

Kaepernick had previously spoken about how he encountered occasions of racism in different forms from his adoptive parents. He further claimed that his parents do not understand the intricacies of being Black. Recently, in an interview, Kaepernick revealed how these incidents led to his choice of picking football over baseball.

Why did Colin Kaepernick pick football over baseball?

Kaepernick mentioned in the past that he had had a crisis in terms of his identity due to his upbringing. When asked about his choice to pick his sports, he drew on this crisis. He spoke about how having a choice to pick a sport helped him reinforce his identity. As per NPR, he said, “So I was trying to navigate that while having a white family and being in a predominantly white community and trying to find ways to make sure that my identity and my Blackness isn’t stripped from me along that journey.”

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Kaepernick made it clear that despite having pro and scholarship offers for baseball, he chose to stick to football. He mentioned how his decision was influenced by the kind of family he grew up in. In the past, Kaepernick has publically spoken about how he felt ostracized by his parents for choices related to his color.

Kaepernick’s comments about his parents

In the past, Kaepernick has openly spoken about how he felt ostracized by his parents. He mentioned an example wherein his adoptive mother had judged his hair. Reportedly, he had fashioned his hair after his favorite NBA player, Allen Iverson. However, he also mentioned that his mother had made some comments that he believed to be racially charged.

This was just one incident that Kaepernick has mentioned. He has also spoken about his mother had raised an eyebrow on his prom date because she was black. All in all, Kaepernick has been very open about his feelings toward his parents and how they’ve judged him. Even in his graphic novel, the QB has touched upon some uncomfortable topics.

While he received a lot of flak from his fans for his words. However, he has never backed down from speaking his truth. It only remains to be seen how the public will react to his latest statement about why he chose football.

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