Best Of: Colin Kaepernick / Danielle Brooks
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How did Colin Kaepernick’s childhood shape his view on race and activism?
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From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tanya Mosley in Los Angeles. Today, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He took a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence and never played in the NFL again. A decade later, he says the point of that protest is still being missed.
We want to stop police killing black people. And the NFL had an issue with that being said. I want people to just take a moment and think about that. Why would that be an issue for anybody to say we want police to stop killing Black people?
Also, actor Danielle Brooks. She first became known as Tasty on Orange is the New Black. While shooting the series, she also auditioned for the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. She knew she had to be ready.
I remember like they had a table with the director and producers and I went straight up to that table and I tapped that table and I was like, all my life I've had to fight. And I just remember them being like, whoa. That's coming
up on Fresh Air Weekend.
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This is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tanya Mosley. Ten years ago, quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem before a San Francisco 49ers game, protesting police brutality against Black people. He said he wouldn't stand to show pride in a flag for a country that oppressed Black people and people of color. Within days, he was the most talked-about athlete in America, and after that season, he never played another NFL game. Kaepernick later filed a grievance accusing NFL owners of colluding to keep him out of the league and later reached a settlement. He went on to found the Know Your Rights camp and a publishing company and co-created a Netflix series with Ava DuVernay about his childhood.
He became a father, and through all of it, he kept training for another shot at the NFL, a shot that still has not come. Over the last decade, Kaepernick has given very few interviews. Well, now he's written a new memoir called The Perilous Fight, and it begins not with a protest against the anthem, but with Kaepernick as a Black child, adopted by white parents and growing up in a predominantly white town, learning about race in ways that would shape the rest of his life. Colin Kaepernick, welcome to Fresh Air.
Tanya, thanks for having me on. Very excited for the conversation today.
Well, Colin, I'd like to actually start where you begin in the book.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Colin Kaepernick’s childhood shape his view on race and activism?
0:00–5:40
2
What was the pivotal moment that led Kaepernick to kneel during the national anthem?
5:40–13:22
3
How did the NFL respond to Kaepernick’s protest and what legal actions followed?
13:22–21:21
4
What initiatives did Kaepernick create after leaving the NFL?
21:21–28:34
5
How does Kaepernick describe the ongoing fight for police accountability?
28:34–34:57
6
Why did Danielle Brooks choose the role of Tasty on Orange Is the New Black?
34:57–40:04
7
How did Brooks transition from TV to Broadway’s The Color Purple and later to film?
40:04–47:06
8
What role does gospel music play in Brooks’s personal and professional life?
47:06–53:16
Speakers
11 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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Colin Kaepernick is still fighting – for justice and for his football career
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