Now even Jim Brown and Hank Aaron have gotten into the discussion regarding Colin Kaepernick

The former quarterback is unemployed. Will Kaepernick step forward and respect the American flag and the National Anthem? It’s his call if he wants to get an NFL team to sign him, and that’s the team’s call

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

Colin Kaepernick took a knee to start the show and now everyone is getting into the act.

The latest to join in with their respective opinions are respected legends, Jim Brown of football fame and Hank Aaron of baseball fame.

Brown is not shy about speaking out. He once committed to fasting while defending his views on racial matters, unfairness by the police, and just anything else that wasn’t to his liking.

As for Aaron, it comes as a surprise, for through the years, the Hall of Famer has been close to silence on matters like this. And so it’s surprising to hear his comments regarding Kaepernick.

As far as those recently coming out in defense of the now unemployed quarterback, it’s as if they feel sorry for him more than two years after he decided to disrespect the American flag that flies as the National Anthem is being played.

Since than, other players have joined him, and now people are still taking sides.

Says Hall of Famer Brown: “I support Colin Kaepernick’s cause, but not the disrespect for the American flag and the National Anthem that he practices. I understand that he advocates for the rights of blacks and gained notoriety last year by refusing to stand for the National Anthem before games, but he needs to get his priorities straight.

“Colin has to make up his mind whether he’s truly an activist or whether he’s a football player. Football is commercial. You have owners, you have fans, and you want to honor that if you’re making that kind of money.”

Brown did not mention the fact that Kaepernick has not been offered a contact by another NFL team after the San Francisco 49ers released him.

But Aaron came to bat in regard to this.

“I say that Colin Kaepernick is getting a “raw deal” as teams shun him, apparently over his decision last season to stand for the National Anthem, and so I believe he’s truly getting a “raw deal”

“If you look at all the quarterbacks in the league right now, I think you have to say he is 1,2,3,4, because I don’t think anybody can do the things he can do on the field. I just wish somebody would open up and give him a chance to do his thing.”

Good try guys, but Brown must realize that Kaepernick is stubborn, influences other players, and has never stated that he would stand up and respect the red, white and blue. Sure it would be nice if he decided to take the path that (most) other athletes do, but not likely.

He was born to his biological mother, Heidi (Zabransky) Russo, and a month-and-a-half later she put him up for adoption. She was white, her husband was black. He was adopted by white parents, Theresa and Rick Karpernick, who had a son and daughter and lost two sons who died of brain damage.

Theresa and Rick have an American flag flying on their property and have declined to answer questions about their son’s protests.

It was 2015 when Colin first sat and then kneed during the playing of the National Anthem in his protest of disrespect of blacks and other colors, and police brutally. Then he became the pied piper.

Did he start something, he sure did. Following up and thinking it was the thing to do were more NFL players, WNBA players, high school football players, Howard University cheerleaders, as well as the marching band at an Oakland Athletics’ baseball game kneeling. It would have been nice if his name was Simon, but it was Kaepernick, and he said and did his thing, and they joined in.

Now let’s get to the part where, although being invited to a few pre-season NFL teams, he was never offered a contract. That’s like being handed the keys to a car that wouldn’t start.

But to answer Aaron, the owners can do what they please, and the NFL can’t do anything about it simply because you can not tell a team who to sign and who not to sign. Now if it’s going around that each team is blackballing him, no team has replied and with the season closing in, all have quarterbacks but none spelled Kaepernick.

That’s the way it goes in every professional sport. It’s a team’s roster and it does what it wants. It’s the owners who have to write the checks out, and if they don’t want to spell out Colin Rand Kaepernick, that’s their choice. It is what it is, and you never hear one team tell another who should be signed.

And that’s the present news, another season without Kaepernick. If the NFL teams are blackballing him, prove it. He had his rights, they have theirs.

Now Kaepernick is by the way, white, and like black lives, they matter, too. All lives matter.

I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and in the 50s I hung out with those labeled “coloreds.” Never had a problem, even brought them home for milk and cookies, and my mother never questioned that. They were people of a different color who had to settle for whatever jobs that were open to them. To generalize, they were poor in this age of soul music, rock and roll, and didn’t have much more than basketball in the playgrounds.

Nothing like these times.