When Colin Kaepernick chose to remain seated during the Star-Spangled Banner on Friday, he explained afterward that it was largely because he was unhappy with cops killing unarmed black people and getting off with paid leave. Whether you agree with that sentiment or not, he made it very clear that he carries a low opinion of law-enforcement officers and that was the drive behind his protest.
“People of color have been targeted by police,” Kaepernick said. “So that’s a large part of it and they’re government officials. They are put in place by the government. So that’s something that this country has to change. There’s things we can do to hold them more accountable. Make those standards higher. You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist.”
So really, weeks-old photos surfacing of Kaepernick wearing socks at practice that depict pigs as cops shouldn’t come as surprise, nor should it change anything you’ve been thinking about this situation over the past week.
This is certainly going to get Freedom Twitter riled up, even though, again, it changes nothing about why Kaepernick sat in the first place. If you felt that he disrespected police officers Friday, then you shouldn’t be surprised to see this image from three weeks ago. If you were on his side Friday, cartoon socks should neither reinforce nor deter your feelings of support.
But if you are going to get mad about this and say things like, “A cartoon pig as a cop! Why I never! This is a travesty and I call for all sports fans to boycott the 49ers until they issue an apology for these socks!” perhaps there is something in our pop culture over the past 25 years that has portrayed a police officer as a bumbling, incompetent, overweight moron with pig-like features that has slipped through your net of freedom.
Police Chief Wiggum has been there all along undermining heroic police officers for two decades and you never saw it or complained about it! How did it dodge your freedom radar that The Simpsons creators intentionally drew him like a pig! What a dastardly plot by Al Jean! You must boycott Fox and demand they cancel a show that probably should’ve been cancelled eight years ago anyway.
UPDATE: Kaepernick has released a statement about his choice of footwear:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ0vPsQAGZQ/
(Via CBS Sports)