Did you know that Colin Kaepernick has white adoptive parents? Well, the former NFL quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers was adopted by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick when he was just five weeks old. While they raised him with morals and a lot of integrity, the former NFL quarterback had recently come forward to call his white adoptive parents “racists” because of the way they raised him when he was a teenager growing up first in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and later in Turlock, California.
The Kaepernicks had two biological children but lost their two sons to congenital heart disease. While they raised Colin as their own child, he was never able to fully mesh with them because of their different races. As a Black person growing up in America, Colin Kaepernick had to deal with challenges that white people simply do not experience. And he also experienced some racism from his adoptive parents even though they tried their best while raising the man who turned out to be an NFL professional and a social justice activist.
Kaepernick has accused his white adoptive parents of “perpetuating racism” because they did not support his chosen hairstyle when he was a teenager. Colin wanted to have corn rows, but his adoptive white parents told him that the hairstyle was unprofessional. He also went on to say that he had to experience “very problematic things” while growing up in the Kaepernick household.
Although Colin Kaepernick, who led the take-a-knee movement during the NFL pregame national anthem ceremony, knew that his white adoptive parents “loved him,” he “went through” a number of challenges because he was Black and they were white.
In a bid to promote his new graphic comic memoir, Kaepernick spoke to CBS about his upbringing in a white American household. He admitted it was challenging being Black in white America, and although his parents loved him, they did not understand everything he had to go through as a Black boy.
His parents allegedly told Colin that he “looked like a little thug” when he wore a certain hairstyle.
“I know my parents loved me. But there were still very problematic things that I went through.”
Kaepernick’s adoptive parents have not yet responded to his allegations of racism. Nor have they ever made a comment about the former NFL quarterback’s anti-racism activism.
In an article published by ESPN before Kaepernick took a knee during the Star-Spangled Banner, his parents explained how joyful they were to bring home Colin as a little baby boy.
Rick Kaepernick, who worked as an executive for a cheese company for years, said, “It all went really smoothly. I know it’s not usually that smooth with adoptions, but it was. Colin never had any adoption issues at all. The only difference is his skin is a little bit browner than ours.”
His mother said: “I’ll never forget that day. They brought him in an infant carrier and set him down. The birth mother was there. I looked at her, and she nodded, and I just picked him up out of the carrier. The minute I picked him up, I just cried. We gave her a big hug. And she needed a couple more minutes. And then we left.”
What do you think about Colin Kaepernick’s view of his white parents?