What If Colin Kaepernick SHOULD Cut His Hair?

By:  H.T.

Michael Vick recently said in an interview that if Colin Kaepernick wants to make it in the NFL, he might need to “cut his hair” and rework his image and learn to play the game.  To many, this was seen as a “pull up your pants” speech from a man who was sent to prison only a few years ago for dog fighting, but has the gumption to tell someone that by reworking his image, he could make it in the league.

Fact is, Michael Vick has gone on to be successful in the league despite his past BECAUSE he’s talented and knows that really the only people still raising a stink over the dog fighting AFTER he paid his debt to society are people who likely don’t watch football anyways.

People often ask, “Well, what happened to all the athletes that used to give back to the black community?”  They got out the league, went into movies and in one ex NFL player’s case, started hanging out with the most hated Republican President this side of Nixon and Reagan.  Fact is, despite the fact that the 49ers are among the wealthiest franchises in the NFL as of 2016, fact is 7 out of 10 of those top successful franchises exist in very conservative, very #BlueLivesMatter-esqe places.  In fact, the MOST successful franchise in the league is based out of a city where a hyper militant gunman killed police and was killed by a bomb drone.

I say all this because the usual refrain I hear is “So players can rape, murder, abuse, steal, be racist and still get to play, but kaepernick has to be kicked out?”  Well, it breaks down to what the fans will tolerate.  If fans will put up with a player who says, “I’ll fight every nigger in here” or is a known rapist, considering there’s no LEGAL reason they’re unable to play, yeah, they stay as they’re winning and the fans love them.  Is it a bit unethical?  One could argue that.  But it plays, so thems the breaks.

I say all this because the simple fact is that as right as Colin may be, he has to realize that the NFL, in culture alone, is not open to players with his kind of message.  Proof that the league will put up with a mediocre player who has the right message is seen in how many chances they gave Tim Tebow despite the fact that he ruined many franchises, including the Denver Broncos.  Fact is, if Colin wants to keep his message going, it can’t be done in a league funded by people who likely voted for Donald Trump.

This is unfortunate, but it is very much the truth of the matter.  Most NFL fans are from red states and don’t care to hear what injustices black people may face.  Hell, most of them believe that because these black people are successful, they shouldn’t care about these injustices, not unlike pre-murder OJ Simpson.  The NFL breeds a culture of black players that feel ingratiated into white culture and should just be happy to be loved; likely the case of what happened to Cam Newton post Super Bowl 50.

In short, this is the fate that Kaepernick faces.  It’s unfortunate, but as Michael Steele learned the hard way, you cannot walk into an organization that lives, breathes and is funded off of being as conservative and far to the right as possible and think you’ll win.  This is the nature of the beast.  It’ll sooner die before you try to change what it’s fed.