Rich RollWhy Kaepernick Took a Knee & What Kept Him Going
Rich Roll
Meeting Kaepernick and the new book 0:00
The conversation opens with a warm introduction to Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who knelt during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police killings of Black people and racial discrimination. The gesture brought both support and outrage, including death threats and attempts to send bombs to his house. His new book is described as part memoir, part manifesto, and part primer on resilience, tracing how his life experiences shaped the person who eventually took that public stand.
Childhood, isolation, and a hidden wound 3:01
Kaepernick grew up in Turlock, a predominantly white area with almost no Black community, raised by white parents who loved him but could not fully understand his experience. As a child he faced racist treatment, including being tied to a rose tree by white classmates in fourth grade and hearing slurs regularly, yet he felt he could not safely bring these experiences home. He describes learning early to navigate different spaces alone, building an internal resilience out of necessity rather than choice. Looking back, he now frames those painful moments as opportunities that sharpened his focus and awareness, even though he does not wish that struggle on anyone.
Undeniable, but still resisted 11:01
Kaepernick points to athletes like Allen Iverson, Randy Moss, and Ken Griffey Jr. as models who stayed true to themselves while excelling, showing him he did not have to assimilate to succeed. He argues that becoming undeniable at the highest level does not end pressure to conform, since the demand for the quarterback to fit a certain image, sometimes described as a white CEO type, only intensifies with success. He recalls being told not to get more tattoos or wear a snapback as team leader, despite performing well enough to reach a Super Bowl and NFC Championship game.
Leverage, obedience, and short careers 18:00
The discussion turns to how the NFL grants leverage to teams and the league itself, especially when players with off-field trouble are welcomed back, creating an unspoken debt that demands obedience afterward. Because most NFL careers are short and rosters are large, players face constant uncertainty about their job security, which makes this kind of pressure especially powerful compared to a league like the NBA with fewer players. Kaepernick notes that football's reliance on teammates for individual success gives teams further leverage, since a player can look bad through no fault of his own and always risks being replaced.
Football's Team-Based Control 19:32
Kaepernick explains how football differs from a sport like basketball, where a star such as LeBron James can put up big numbers even on a bad team. In football, coaches control the plays and the ball, so a team that wants a player to fail can simply route the offense away from him, cutting his catches, yards, or touchdowns. That structure means players cannot go on a solo mission to succeed, since ten other teammates and the coaching staff determine outcomes, which creates pressure to stay obedient and fall in line.
Why Speak Now, After A Decade 24:01
Asked why he stayed quiet for ten years and is now releasing a book, Kaepernick says the anniversary lined up but the real reason is the state of the country and the urgency needed to keep momentum going. He notes that his visibility in 2016 was partly an obligation, since NFL quarterbacks are required to speak to the press three times a day, and once that obligation ended he shifted his energy into direct community work rather than sit-down interviews.
Know Your Rights Camp And Beyond 26:31
He describes founding Know Your Rights Camp in 2015, starting with the goal of helping Black kids get home safe amid a wave of police killings, then building toward helping them thrive. That work grew into partnerships with schools and community organizations, a free second-autopsy initiative for families of people who died in custody, a 2020 Covid initiative, and a legal defense initiative, all built around identifying community needs.
Reading Today's Political Climate 28:02
Kaepernick sees a small group trying to pull the country back culturally and systemically, but says the broader public is rejecting that direction and backing candidates like Mamdani, Abdul El-Sayed, and Angie Nixon, people who might not have had a path to prominence before. He credits the last decade of grassroots work with shifting how people think about political engagement and representation.
Years In The Making 31:30
He rejects the idea that his 2016 protest came out of nowhere, tracing it instead to a lifetime of experiences growing up Black in a white adopted family, navigating police and racism, and educating himself through research and auditing classes at Berkeley. He lists the killings of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Mario Woods, Freddy Gray, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile as the immediate backdrop, comparing the buildup to how his NFL career itself took fifteen years of preparation before it began.
Manipulated Narrative, Uncomfortable Truth 35:00
Kaepernick describes how media coverage twisted the protest into questions about disrespecting the flag or the military rather than addressing police brutality, and how even the basic idea that police shouldn't kill Black people became controversial. He calls that reaction a form of denial in the face of an uncomfortable truth, and the conversation notes the irony that speaking truth to power reflects the constitutional principles the country claims to stand for, even as his actions were branded treasonous because he threatened a powerful institution.
Ten Years of Progress and Limits 38:01
Kaepernick reflects on what changed after his protest, noting that the original goal was to spark real discussion about policing and its roots in slave patrols, and to push for institutions that keep people safe rather than feed the prison system. He points to real gains over the past decade, including local and state policy changes, new community institutions, and the use of social workers instead of police for mental health crises. At the same time, he acknowledges that police killings are up and police budgets have expanded, which shows the work has to go further.
Navigating Backlash Behind Closed Doors 41:01
He describes the unpredictable escalation once the kneeling protest became national and then international news, forcing constant behind-the-scenes strategy around messaging, organizing players, and responding to the NFL, team owners, and even Donald Trump invoking the protest on the campaign trail. He talks about death threats and bomb scares, and the strain of learning who would actually stand by him versus who quietly backed away. He explains that having faced death before in his life left him feeling he was playing with house money, which fueled a stubborn, persistent refusal to be deterred, while recognizing that not everyone can take the same risk and that there are other ways to support the cause.
Writing Goals as a Kid 52:30
Kaepernick recalls a fourth grade time capsule assignment where he wrote that he would be 6 foot 4, weigh around 170 to 190 pounds, and play for the Packers or the 49ers, predictions that came remarkably close to reality since he ended up 6 foot 5 and drafted by the 49ers. He describes a second instance with coach Jim Harbaugh, who had the team write down season goals; as a backup at the time, Kaepernick wrote that he would become the starter and reach the Super Bowl, and after starter Alex Smith got injured, his tenth NFL start turned out to be the Super Bowl. He frames this as evidence that writing goals down has a practical, action-based power, forcing you to truly believe in a possibility and then shaping the decisions that move you toward it.
Mental rehearsal before games 57:00
Kaepernick describes running through every play call in his mind before games, going through first and second down calls, third down, red zone, blitz situations, and audibles based on what he expects the defense to do. He says this mental practice, backed by neuroscience around goal writing and visualization, reduces friction in the actual moment because it no longer feels new. He calls the practice almost meditative and says he still uses a looser version of it outside football, including anticipating reactions to releasing his book.
Fate, ambition, and early self-belief 1:03:00
Reflecting on the fourth grade assignment where he predicted he would play for the 49ers, Kaepernick says he cannot fully reconcile whether life is fate or something he controls through his decisions, and settles on believing it is a mix of both. He says the lesson he takes is to be more ambitious than what seems possible, since people told him his childhood dream was unrealistic. He traces his self-belief partly to personality and partly to small early wins, recalling a punt, pass and kick competition he almost quit out of nerves but ended up winning, which taught him that overcoming doubt becomes a repeatable pattern.
Current goals and literacy work 1:06:31
Kaepernick says his biggest current goals include continuing efforts against police brutality and the prison industrial complex, alongside a company he runs in education focused on literacy, since about 70 percent of students nationwide are not proficient readers and writers. His venture, called Lumi, uses AI to personalize instruction and align fragmented K through 12 systems, but with strict guardrails so students never let AI write for them, since genuine learning requires productive struggle rather than task completion.
Being a brilliant student, doubted anyway 1:12:00
Kaepernick notes he was a top student, a 4.5 GPA in high school with AP courses and a 4.0 in college, yet his academic success was consistently treated as a surprise because expectations for a black athlete's intellect were low. He says this experience shapes his activism, aiming to make it normal to expect brilliance from black athletes and black people generally, and to expose people repeatedly to that reality until it stops being seen as an anomaly, similar to how undeniable athletic performance shifts perception.
Younger generations respond with enthusiasm 1:16:00
Kaepernick describes meeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha as consistently positive, noting that these younger generations are more politically aware and involved than millennials were at the same age. He says they grow up more definitive in their positions toward corporations, politicians, and the people around them, and they carry a strong sense of agency, believing they can actually create change. He credits social media with giving them a more global perspective, even while acknowledging it brings both benefits and drawbacks.
Looking back on 2016 choices 1:18:31
Asked what he would change about 2016, Kaepernick says he wonders whether he could have pushed harder, both in demanding more from people joining the movement and in publicly confronting false narratives rather than mostly working behind the scenes. He weighs the risk that speaking out loudly might have shifted attention away from the cause itself, and reflects that media had already shifted toward chasing clicks and attention over straightforward reporting of facts.
Bracing for renewed backlash 1:25:00
Kaepernick expects a wave of coordinated media and disinformation campaigns, some tied to foreign funding, as he re-enters public conversation in today's more complex information landscape. He says resistance is inevitable when pushing for change, though he resists treating backlash itself as proof of success, and instead keeps watch on social media, politics, and public sentiment to stay calibrated without losing sight of the actual goal.
Balancing conviction with persuasion 1:29:00
He talks through the tension between holding an uncompromising stance and building the consensus needed to move people, pointing to Martin Luther King Jr., who was supported by only about a third of Black Americans in his own time despite being celebrated today. Kaepernick says people often resist ideas that make them uncomfortable, and part of his approach now is helping others see criticism of a system as separate from a personal attack, which opens space for them to reconsider their views over time.
People changing their minds over time 1:31:00
He shares that many people, including some who once said they hated him, have told him they eventually came to see he was right, though he doubts this will happen with everyone, especially in some deep southern states. He finds these encounters rewarding but wishes change happened faster, since real lives are affected by how quickly people act, and he says the work requires balancing urgency with patience for how slowly beliefs actually shift.
Still training every day 1:35:04
Closing out, Kaepernick confirms he still trains daily, waking at 4:30 in the morning for skill work and lifting, leaving open the question of a possible NFL return as a quarterback.
Training as a form of meditation 1:36:02
Kaepernick explains that he still trains the way he did as a player, treating it as both discipline and a kind of meditation. He admits he struggles with sitting still, preferring focused physical work with headphones in as his way to tune into himself.
Still wanting to play and lead 1:37:03
He says his love for football remains a real passion, and he still wants to return to the field and lead a team to a championship, while acknowledging he can only control his own preparation.
A challenge to NFL teams 1:37:30
Noting that 63 quarterbacks played last year with many injured, the host points out the opportunity teams are missing by not signing him. Kaepernick's closing message to NFL coaches and GMs is to be true to their claim that the league is a meritocracy that plays the best talent.
Closing plugs 1:38:30
The conversation ends with mentions of Kaepernick's book releasing September 15th, and his sites kaepernick7.com, knowyourightscamp.com, and lumiestory.ai for those wanting to learn more or get involved.
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