Colin Kaepernick is currently under a six-year, $114 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers. Thursday night, after a 31-21 preseason win over the San Diego Chargers, the quarterback pledged to donate $1 million of his income to various charities that work with communities.
“I’ve been very blessed to be in this position, to make the kind of money I do, and I have to help these people, these communities,” Kaepernick said in a postgame press conference. “It’s not right that they’re not put in the position to succeed, or given those opportunities to succeed.”
Kaepernick and his girlfriend Nessa, a personality at New York’s Hot 97 radio station, also donated $60,000 worth of backpacks on Friday morning to school kids in Harlem and the South Bronx in New York City, according to The Root.
The NFL player roused the ire of NFL executives and a certain segment of fans when he began protesting police brutality and racial injustice by remaining seated during the playing of the national anthem before games. He was also seen wearing socks depicting police officers as pigs during practice earlier this week.
Kaepernick has also drawn a fair amount of support from high-profile black leaders like Spike Lee.
During the anthem on Thursday night, which was the 28th annual Salute to the Military at the Chargers’ Qualcomm Stadium, Kaepernick took a knee instead of sitting, though he was still subjected to boos.
“There are still issues that need to be addressed, and it was also a way to try and show more respect to the men and women that fight for this country,” Kaepernick explained after
Watch Kaepernick explain his decision to donate $1 million and take a knee during the national anthem before Thursday night’s game:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Colin Kaepernick, on plans to donate $1 million to communities & how today's kneel-protest emerged <a href=”https://t.co/NMsp2gqZM7″>pic.twitter.com/NMsp2gqZM7</a></p>— Cam Inman (@CamInman) <a href=”https://twitter.com/CamInman/status/771585550599925760″>September 2, 2016</a></blockquote>
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