PA/Knows Your Rights Camp/InstagramColin Kaepernick has spent his 32nd birthday feeding the homeless in California.
Love him or love him, Kaepernick has transformed what it means to be a sports star who’s active in making the world a better place.
After taking a knee, and seemingly losing his job because of it, Kaep has put his money where his mouth is and has actively looked to make the changes in society he’s been asking others to implement.
If you’ve found yourself situated under a rock for the past few years (which given the current political climate of the world we wouldn’t actually blame you), Kaep took a knee during a pre-season game for the San Francisco 49ers back in 2016 because he couldn’t in good faith express pride for the American flag when so many American people of colour remained oppressed and vulnerable to police brutality.
In that vein, he chose to take a knee during the national anthem as a show of solidarity. It was a peaceful protest that drew scorn and anger from a portion of American society, while others supported his highlighting of deep-lying prejudicial and discriminatory issues so prevalent in the United States.
PAHe received horrific abuse online but came out on top of the culture war, especially after the award-winning Nike advert he starred in, but the former NFL quarterback has stayed true to his beliefs and is set on helping those less fortunate than himself.
Kaepernick was out in a food truck in Oakland, California, at one of the largest homeless encampments, paying for every single meal for every single person who wanted one.
In partnership with his charitable foundation, Know Your Rights Camp, and with some help from his girlfriend Nessa, Kaep was walking around handing out backpacks filled with snacks, socks, air quality masks, shampoo and other resources.
This isn’t the first time Kaepernick has used his birthday to give back to the community as back in 2016, he hosted the first Know Your Rights Camp event, bringing dozens of Latino and black kids together to teach them about their rights and social injustices.
It doesn’t look like the former San Francisco 49ers will be getting back into the NFL any time soon as he hasn’t played or had a team since the 2016 season.
Three years later, and having reached out to all 32 teams in the NFL, he’s had ‘little to no response’ about getting employed again.
One of Kaeps reps, Jeff Nalley, said:
In 25 years, I have never seen anything like it.
Hopefully Colin Kaepernick’s activism can and will inspire real change in the world.
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Taking the idea of ‘being woke’ to a whole new level over a decade-long career in sport, court and online news, George has worked for titles and agencies including ESPN FC, Eurosport, LADbible and Court News UK. He may not have a degree but does have an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.