During the 2016 NFL preseason, quarterback Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers took a knee during the National Anthem. This act of peaceful protest quickly spurred reactions on and off the football field that showed a clear division in America during an election year combined with the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
Kaepernick shared his thoughts and answered questions initially, but then largely stopped talking and kept kneeling. A new documentary Kaepernick & America explores this symbolic gesture and how it still resonates today.
"One of the things we try to do in the film is to connect these incidents that continued to push him to the place that got him to kneel," says co-director Tommy Walker.
He notes that sports, particularly football, are a reflection of larger society — something that the reactions spurred by Kaepernick's protest, both positive and extremely negative, clearly showed.
"I think the splintering in American society around race and issues of race showed themselves at the very same time Kaepernick was kneeling. Whether he had knelt or not, those same divisions were occurring regardless. It's just that he shined a light on it in an area where there's a lot of attention was paid to sports," Walker explains.
The documentary explores many issues from transracial adoption, to looking at the march in Charleston, or looking back on Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf's national anthem protest in the NBA and how it connects to Kaepernick. Walker says everything they touch upon all serves to push the dialogue forward and spur reflection on who we are as Americans.
"This is about conversation. Whether you like the film, dislike the film; whether you like Colin Kaepernick or dislike Colin Kaepernick; whether you believe in what he did or not, it all spurs conversation — and our effort is to do just that," he says.
You can see Kaepernick & America at the Oriental Theater this Friday evening as a part of Milwaukee Film’s Cultures & Communities Festival.
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