Colin Kaepernick has lived in headlines over the last week because of his protest of the national anthem before 49ers preseason games. While many have criticized Kaepernick for not saluting our country’s flag, he has received support from his teammates, other athletes in other sports and cultural icons. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Megan Rapinoe, J. Cole, Barack Obama and more have shown support for Kaepernick — and the latest to speak up is the NBA’s MVP Stephen Curry.
In an interview with CNBC, Curry sided with Kaepernick’s stance.
“I love that there is freedom of speech and that he can stand up for what he believes in,” Curry said. “There’s going to be people who disagree with him and there’s going to be people that agree with him, which is what this country stands for. Hopefully this will drive the conversation for bettering the rights, equal rights and treatment of African Americans and people of color.”
And for Kaepernick, that’s what this is really about as he’s said that he will continue to sit during the national anthem until he sees “significant change.” There’s no telling what is deemed significant in Kaepernick’s eyes, but there should be little question about what his message is — and Curry hopes that others will realize that it’s about that message, and not the delivery.
“I applaud him for taking a stand, and hopefully, the conversation can be about what his message was and not ‘if he’s going to stand or if he’s going to sit for the national anthem,'” said Curry.
Getting his message across has been an issue for Kaepernick. After the 49ers final preseason game, he tried again to make his message clear.
“The message is we have a lot of issues in this country that we need to deal with. We have a lot of people that are oppressed. We have a lot of people that aren’t treated equally; that aren’t given equal opportunities. Police brutality is a huge thing that needs to be addressed. There are a lot of issues that need to be talked about that need to be brought to life. We need to fix those things.”
Since this story started making national headlines, Kaepernick’s jersey sales have skyrocketed, and Kaepernick plans on “donating all the proceeds I receive from my jersey sales back into the communities!” The 49ers quarterback also said that he plans on giving away the first $1 million he makes this year to help foster growth in communities that need it most.
