Former Kentucky players see protests as vindication of Kaepernick
In light of the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, former Kentucky basketball players say an earlier high-profile protester of systemic racism should in retrospect be viewed more favorably: Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick, then quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, took a knee during the playing of the national anthem in the 2016 season. He said he knelt to protest racial injustice, police brutality and systematic oppression.
Kaepernick became a polarizing figure. President Donald Trump said players who knelt during the anthem should be fired. Kaepernick, who became a free agent before the 2017 season, has not been signed by any team despite having led the 49ers to the 2012 Super Bowl and the 2013 NFC championship game.
“It’s shameful that the NFL has banned him,” said Sean Woods, one of UK’s “Unforgettables.” “Now, he’s looking like a real superstar. And the NFL is looking that much worse because what we did — to put a knee down — was just to raise awareness.”
A former Green Beret, Nate Boyer, suggested to Kaepernick the idea of kneeling. Boyer told The New York Times that he got the idea from seeing a photo of Martin Luther King Jr., kneeling in prayer and protest in Selma, Ala., in the 1960s.
Former UK All-American Kenny Walker, a 49ers fan, initially questioned Kaepernick’s act of protest. He linked it to Kaepernick having become a backup for the team.
“It disappointed me that he was kneeling because I thought he was looking to get attention because he wasn’t playing . . . ,” Walker said. “After I watched him lose his career, and everything he’s gone through, and the stuff that’s happening right now, I’m going, ‘Wow. A peaceful protest. Taking a knee during the national anthem.’ And it cost him his job.
“When you look at protests going on today about the same thing he knelt for: police brutality, difficult things we go through, I think Kaepernick is looking pretty good right now.”
Kevin Grevey, an All-American in the 1974-75 season and a player who ranks seventh on Kentucky’s career scoring list (1,801 points), said Kaepernick’s protest made him more aware of injustice in this country.
For Grevey, this greater awareness began with another protester: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who was known as Chris Jackson when he played basketball for LSU.
Abdul-Rauf’s form of protest was to not stand during the national anthem. Grevey initially did not approve.
Neither did the NBA, which suspended Abdul-Rauf on March 12, 1996. Two days later, a compromise was struck: Abdul-Rauf would stand for the anthem, but he would close his eyes and bow his head.
“He was Kaepernick before Kaepernick,” Grevey said of Abdul-Rauf. “I didn’t really see his side. I do, now. I wish I did then.”
Before playing in a three-on-three league game in Rupp Arena two years ago, Abdul-Rauf explained his protest.
“If you feel there’s something wrong and you want to change it, whether you’re an athlete, whether you’re a doctor, whether you’re a garbage man, we all have a voice by God,” he said. “And we have a right to voice our concerns. Whatever it is, you have to live with those consequences.”
For Abdul-Rauf, the consequences were death threats, the burning of his 2,800-square foot home in Mississippi and his NBA career ending at age 29.
Critics of current protests sparked by a Minneapolis policeman placing a knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes have focused on instances of looting and violence directed at police.
The protests staged by Abdul-Rauf and Kaepernick were peaceful. In retrospect, they are seen as prescient, said Ernie Kent, a former coach at Oregon who now serves as an emeritus member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches board of directors.
“He’s vindicated,” Kent said of Kaepernick. “But he sacrificed a lot when you think about it. He sacrificed a lot so others would not have to take a knee and sacrifice.
“He stepped forward when others wouldn’t. Now, here we are where everybody’s stepping forward.”
Protest planned
Former UK players Erik Daniels and Ravi Moss plan a peaceful protest Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.
Protesters will march from the Joe Craft Center parking lot to Rupp Arena and back.
“We will have great speakers at both locations,” Daniels wrote in an online post Monday night. “Everyone please come out and “support.”
