It would appear the Colin Kaepernick anthem protest is creating positive ripples in the San Francisco area amid an onslaught of national and more localized criticism. The 49ers are standing behind Kaepernick and his right to protest and are now stepping forward with a sizable financial contribution in an effort to promote community foundations focusing on social inequalities.
BREAKING: The @49ers have pledged $1 million to a pair of Bay Area groups to address various social inequities. Story to come.
— Jim Trotter (@JimTrotter_NFL) September 8, 2016
“Today, I am committing that the 49ers Foundation will contribute $1 million to the cause of improving racial and economic inequality and fostering communication and collaboration between law enforcement and the communities they serve here in the Bay Area,” 49ers owner Jed York announced in a statement. The donation from the team is separate from the donation previously committed to by Kaepernick.
The 49ers are not the only NFL franchise making news with a donation. The Green Bay Packers and head coach Mike McCarthy are each reportedly going to donate $100,000 to the Green Bay Police Foundation in Wisconsin.
Packers HC Mike McCarthy and the Packers' organization announced they have partnered to each donate $100,000 to Green Bay Police Foundation.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 8, 2016
Now, before we go accusing one team of disrespecting a certain segment of our community and another team disrespecting the other, let’s keep a cool head about all of this. The bottom line is NFL franchises have the funds available to donate to causes that are aimed at making our communities better, and here we see the 49ers and Packers (and surely others soon enough) making an effort to pitch in and contribute to their communities in a positive way. I suspect we will see more of this as the season rolls along. In the end, isn’t that what Kaepernick’s protest was initially aimed to change?
Will monetary donations solve all of the problems? Of course not, but it is refreshing to see folks from the NFL taking action as best they can to contribute to the society around them.
