It has been a fascinating past couple months since Colin Kaepernick first took a seat during the National Anthem. And it has revealed all sorts of interesting angles to a nation-wide issue.
Back in August, Jerry Rice tweeted, “All lives matter. So much going on in this world today.Can we all just get along! Colin,I respect your stance but don't disrespect the Flag.”
Three weeks later, Rice tweeted support for Kaepernick, tweeting, “I support @Kaepernick7 for bringing awareness for injustice !!!! As Americans we all have rights! Im hoping we all come together#solution.”
On Wednesday, he added an apology to this that piqued my curiosity:
When I said {All Lives Matter} I didn't know about the movement going on between {Black Lives Matter}. I want to apologize for my mistake!
— Jerry Rice (@JerryRice) October 6, 2016
He seems to be saying he tweeted “All Lives Matter” without knowing about the “Black Lives Matter” side of the debate. However, “All Lives Matter” sprung up entirely because of the Black Lives Matter movement. If we are to take this at face value, it would seem back in August he was parroting what he had heard. If that’s the case, I suppose it is good that he has since educated himself, and acknowledged his lack of awareness.
That being said, the whole situation is odd. I am surprised he did not know about the movement given the amount of media coverage dedicated to it. At the same time, there are some people that remain relatively disconnected to news of the day. I can see how someone would not watch the news, and generally avoid certain parts of social media. It’s odd in my mind given how connected I find myself, but I can see how people would be able to tune out a lot of the bad stuff going on in the world.