Rodney Harrison says Colin Kaepernick isn’t black enough
Once known as the NFL’s dirtiest player, Rodney Harrison opens his mouth to comment about race, promptly inserts foot.
There are hot takes, and then there are hot takes. Rodney Harrison’s take on Colin Kaepernick’s racially-motivated protest against the national anthem may trump them all.
Here’s what the two-time Super Bowl winning safety had to say on SportsTalk 790 AM out of Houston on Tuesday morning.
"“I tell you this, I’m a black man. And Colin Kaepernick — he’s not black,” Harrison said. “He can not understand what I face and what other young black men and black people face, or people of color face, on a every single (day) basis. When you walk in a grocery store, and you might have $2,000 or $3,000 in your pocket and you go up in to a Foot Locker and they’re looking at you like you about to steal something.”"
Kaepernick is of mixed race, born to a white mother and a black father before being given up for adoption. He was adopted by a white family and later lived out his childhood in another farming community, Turlock, CA. He’s been dealing with his own internal racial debate since childhood.
“I knew I was different to my parents and my older brother and sister,” he said. “I never felt that I was supposed to be white. Or black, either. My parents just wanted to let me be who I needed to be.”
As a child, Kaepernick dealt with his own experiences with racial profiling, “We used to go on these summer driving vacations and stay at motels,” he recalled. “And every year, in the lobby of every motel, the same thing always happened, and it only got worse as I got older and taller. It didn’t matter how close I stood to my family, somebody would walk up to me, a real nervous manager, and say: ‘Excuse me. Is there something I can help you with?”
How Harrison feels compelled to comment on Kaepernick’s “blackness” is beyond me. Having lighter skin than a member of your own race does not make your point of view any less valuable. Kaepernick’s perspective on life as a black American is not devalued because he grew up with a white family.
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No, the 49ers quarterback did not grow up impoverished in an inner-city setting. His adoption spared him that fate, but did not fully spare him the difficulties of life as a minority in America. With a big platform to speak his mind and call for change, Kaepernick is taking a stand against the oppression he has seen in his lifetime.
It’s not up to Mr. Harrison to judge the legitimacy of Kaepernick’s desire to help end racial oppression in the United States. Kaepernick has his own reasons for deciding to speak out and attempt to make a difference, and Harrison needs to accept and embrace that. Throwing shade is not the answer.