(Reposted from Facebook)

Hate the 49ers. Love Colin Kaepernick. Full respect.

1) Among the things that makes this country "great"? We aren't mandated to respond a certain way to the flag or to the national anthem or to other nationalist symbols

2) White folks love to see black folks be "athletic," much of which involves all sorts of long-standing racist performances around the body. The male body. The same body we punish, we laud. The very same body. White folks readily cheer when strong black men's bodies get broke. I can see why Colin would sit down for a celebration of this. I can see why he extends his analysis of broken bodies off the field.

3) There is a long history of black athletes performing some of the most powerful displays of anti-imperialism and anti-white supremacy. I honor this history. I am proud to live in a country of raised black fists, of defiant black athletes but ashamed that it falls upon them to do so. We must recognize the history of white supremacy, built on black bodies.

4) Look at college athletes, particularly in the high profile men's sports -- football, basketball, baseball. This is the new plantation, as Taylor Branch has argued. Schools are completely implicated in this and by this. Black and brown bodies on display. We deny them a college education, while claiming that they get one for free. We use and abuse their body for sport. For. Sport.

5) "I wouldn’t fly the flag on the Fourth of July or any other day. When I see a car with a flag on it, I figure the guy behind the wheel isn't my friend." -- Jackie Robinson. You do not disrespect the flag or the country by refusing to fly or salute the flag. You disrespect it by denying others freedom.