Pro coaches, including Pete Carroll, Steve Kerr, and Gregg Popovich, sang national anthem protester Colin Kaepernick’s praises this week for taking “a stand” on social justice issues.
Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, for instance, said “we owe a tremendous amount” to Colin Kaepernick for taking a stance on social justice, ESPN reported.
Carroll added that Kaepernick “took a stand on something, figuratively took a knee, but he stood up for something he believed in — and what an extraordinary moment it was that he was willing to take.”
The Seahawks coach made his comments on Tuesday on The Ringer’s “Flying Coach” podcast in a visit along with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
As the riots began last week, Kaepernick jumped to social media to tell rioters that the riots were the “only logical reaction” and that they need to “fight back.”
The next day, Kaepernick offered to pay for the legal fees of any Antifa rioter who gets arrested during the unrest.
On the podcast, Carroll added that Kaepernick’s “mission of what the statement was, such a beautiful” statement.
“We’re not protecting our people. We’re not looking after one another. We’re not making the right choices. We’re not following the right process to bring people to justice when actions are taken. So I think it was a big sacrifice in the sense that a young man makes, but those are the courageous moments that some guys take,” Carroll pontificated.
Kerr insisted that Kaepernick’s “peaceful protest” looks prescient now.
“To me, it’s really hard to look at what’s going on right now with all the violence and the protests and not look back to four years ago and say, ‘Look, this guy [Kaepernick] was trying to peacefully protest, and nothing came of it,” Kerr exclaimed. “The killings went on, and nothing changed, and he was actually ridiculed, so it’s a real tough one to think about.”
Kerr added, “this is the way our country is, it’s our responsibility to admit that this is what’s going on in our country, and let’s look at our past and let’s truly examine our past.”
Kerr also said that the country needs to make an “admission of guilt” for there to be “reconciliation,” and that there has been “a refusal to reconcile our sins of our past” sins of slavery.
Popovich also praised the players today for their political activism.
“[They’re] much more committed and much more ready to speak out,” Popovich told the podcast host. “But it’s got to stay persistent, or it’s just going to fade away.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston.
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