COLUMN: The deal with Kaepernick

Several weeks ago Steve Cameron wrote an article swearing off the NFL because Colin Kaepernick had not been signed with any NFL team since he took it upon himself to diss (by kneeling during the singing of “The Star Spangled Banner”) the U.S. military, the nation’s various police officers, firefighters and all the rest of us who truly believe that the U.S., guided by its Constitution and Bill of Rights, is the fairest and most successful form of government in the history of the world.

I had made the same decision (to boycott any viewing of NFL games, including Super Bowls) right after Kaepernick decided to figuratively “give the finger” to all who have sacrificed to keep this country and much of the world free.

After other NFL players took the same action as Kaepernick with no consequences (when they were on-the-clock working for an employer), I pulled the plug on the whole shebang, for exactly the opposite reasons that Cameron so recently decried the NFL.

Then Wednesday, Cameron continues to scream into the wind, in his so-called “non-political” rant in the Sports section, that Kaepernick is still not being treated in the manner with which Cameron believes he should.

My theory is that many of these kneelers have been held up as heroes for so long (many going back to junior high and before) that they are more interested in gaining “street-cred” by impressing their drinking buddies, than doing the hard work. That would be trying to work with police agencies throughout the states to try and bring more understanding, in both directions, as to why blacks and other minorities (not counting Asians) might be viewed with some enhanced suspicion when first approaching their vehicle after a stop. Dreadlocks, tattoos, etc., probably don’t help allay those suspicions, since they more often than not, mimic rap artists, ex-convicts or parolees.

It is entirely laughable that Cameron views this as non-political.

MIKE SATREN

Hayden