Colin Kaepernick was spotted at an Oakland high school on Friday, kneeling on the sideline while the players offered their own “laying down, hands up” demonstration during the National Anthem. Matt Maiocco found a little bit more about the situation. The school, Castlemont, had Kaepernick in to speak to the team in the locker room before the game. Maiocco found video from Benjamin Arnold. It does not show the entire speech, but the four videos show some strong stuff from Kaepernick and a person I believe is the team’s coach. I’ve embedded the speech below, and have a transcription of the two minutes of video.
Kaepernick: “What’s most important is you look out for one anther. This is your family. These are your brothers. I look at all of you as brothers. I see your strength, I see your power. I see your courage, your confidence. And that’s something you have to be able to speak into each other as well. When you talk to him, talk to him with confidence. Speak confidence into him. You gonna play great today. You’re gonna be the best player out there. And not just the best player on the field, you’re going to be the best player when you walk off that field and into the real world.”
Kaepernick: “You are important. You make a difference. This matters. Everything you do matters. Look out for one another. Lift each other up. That’s what this is about. I had to come support you all, because the same way you all took a stand and stood with me, I have to come out here and stand with you all. So I appreciate what you did. I love you all. You all my brothers. I’m here with you.”
Coach: “...in jail or dead, they don’t have to worry about that. Every time you take the field, you gotta take the field with a chip on your shoulder. That’s why we [] about every little [site decorum] thing in the world. Cause it’s about the transition from football to life. Damn some football, we talking about life. Who are you in life? How are you looking at life? What do you wanna do?”
Kaepernick: And I know situations are like, situations you all might be in, where people don’t treat you the same. They don’t give you that time of day. They don’t give you the opportunities to be the best you can be. And, that’s why I made the decision to do what I did. You all inspired me with what you did, following that and standing up. You all are doing this at a much younger age than what I did. This took me a while to get to this point. And you all are conscious of this at this point in time to make that stand.”