The negative public outcry to Colin Kaepernick when the then-San Francisco 49er kneeled during the national anthem reminded Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr of another influential athlete who was initially vilified.
Kerr, during a conference call Tuesday, said Kaepernick’s protest and the public reaction was similar to Muhammad Ali decades earlier.
“My sense a few years ago was that Kaepernick would ultimately be considered a hero, based on the experience Muhammad Ali had when he protested against going to Vietnam, and was barred from fighting for years, and was one of the most hated men in America,” Kerr said. “Eventually he became one of the most beloved.”
Kerr believes that, similar to Ali, Kaepernick will be looked up to by the vast majority of society down the road.
“I think oftentimes the very act of making a groundbreaking statement can be so surprising and shocking that it’s not fully appreciated until later on,” Kerr said.
“My sense is that eventually Colin will be recognized for the gesture that he made and for the price that he paid for it. I’m glad that the NFL is now supporting him.”
Kerr spoke more about Kaepernick and the recent protests over the death of George Floyd and other people at the hands of police, saying these protests feel different than those in the recent past.
“I do think this feels different this time. There’s more and more people (that) are becoming truly aware of what the experience is for the African American community. They’re realizing that we have to do something about it as a country. We can’t just sit here and nod our heads and say yeah and move on with our daily existence. We’ve got to actually all take part.
I think the beginning of this, this current movement anyway, has been in the works for a while, probably going back to much earlier than Colin. Even the Ferguson incident in 2014 and others that led to a lot of protests. This is definitely the culmination of a lot of frustration and trauma and work, and it does feel like a tipping point. I hope that it is.
Kerr was asked about current players who have attended protests, including Juan Toscano-Anderson, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
“I’m really proud of my players. I’ve been in touch with Juan. I think it’s fantastic at such a young age to take the initiative to organize a peaceful protest. That’s what our country is about. It’s in the Constitution. For a group of young people to organize themselves, and for our players to be a part of that, and to follow through on that, it speaks to how much they care about the Bay Area and the community and each other. I’m really proud of all of them.”
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Kerr was also asked about past players he has coached who were outspoken on racial issues.
“Well, I think we’ve always been very open as a coaching staff. We’ve tried to give our players plenty of freedom and space to speak their minds, not only with you guys, with the media, but also within our circle, within the confines of the organization and the team.
I think that’s especially important right now. I think our players have grown comfortable speaking out about the things they feel are important. And now is a really important time to do so.
So we will try to continue to foster that kind of free thinking and free-flowing communication with our players and our fans, understand the role that we can play not just in entertaining our fans but being part of the community, being part of an overall community commitment to trying to build a safer and better society in the Bay Area.
I think everybody plays a role in that, every citizen. And our players have big platforms to help along those lines. I’m proud that they’re using them.”
Kerr added later that the Warriors organization needs to play a role in the community.
“We haven’t had this level of public protest in a long time. Obviously these things happen for a reason. They just don’t come about all at once. There’s a lot of frustration and trauma. There’s a lot that goes into this.
We all can play our own role in trying to help our community. What that means for us as an organization, I think it means educating ourselves and educating our players, and in turn us trying to help educate people in general. We do a lot of appearances. Our players do a lot of appearances in schools. We have a huge educational component to our community foundation.”
Kerr said non-black people need to “commit” to learning about African American history in the United States. “I’m not talking about the homogenized one that we all learned in American history in high school. We need to learn the real American history, the one that tells the truth about some of the awfulness to it,” he said.
“I think probably the most important thing we can really do in my mind, after giving this a lot of thought, is really commit to teaching people about the African American experience in this country. I’m not talking about the homogenized one that we all learned in American history in high school. We need to learn the real American history, the one that tells the truth about some of the awfulness to it.
We’ve got to be able to come to grips with it before we can do anything about it. That sort of reconciliation with the sins of our past is a crucial part of all this. It requires a big effort for everybody to actually come to grips with that.
It’s really hard for us. Since we love our country, it’s hard for all of us to really come to grips with what we’ve put the African American communities through the course of American history. Most people really don’t know. I know my education excluded so much of that.
So I would like to think that we can make a really concerted effort to learn more about that in order to be able to make some strides socially and politically. Because it’s the only way we’ll have the foundation upon which to do so.
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