San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick Now Dealing With Death Threats Due To Protests

Sep 21, 2016 09:03 AM EDT

Colin Kaepernick, the backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, revealed that he has been receiving death threats due to his national anthem protests at the NFL preseason games. According to the athlete, these threats reflect that if something happens to him, then it would prove his point about the racial injustice and violence that's currently plaguing the country.

Kaepernick became the center of controversy in August after he refused to stand up for the national anthem and the American flag during the preseason games. According to the QB, he doesn't want to honor the flag of a country where racial oppression and abuse are rampant.

His protests drew the ire of several NFL executives who referred to him as a traitor to the country. Recently, he revealed that he has started receiving death threats because of his actions.

As noted by the athlete, he hasn't notified the security team of the San Francisco organization regarding the threats. He also believes that if something bad were to happen to him, then it would strengthen his point and the movement that he's supporting.

"To me, if something like that were to happen, you've proved my point and it will be loud and clear for everyone why it happened and that would move this movement forward at a greater speed than what it is even now," he said.

"Granted, I don't want that to happen but that's the realization of what could happen and I knew there were other things that came along with this when I first stood up and spoke about it," he added. "That's not something I haven't thought about."

Aside from the death threats, Kapernick also talked about Terence Crutcher, who was shot and killed by a female police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma last week.
"I think it will be very, very telling what happens with the officer that killed him, what happens with [her] because everybody's eyes will be on [her]," he said. "For me, I think one of the things that I've noticed throughout this is there's a lot of racism in this country disguised as patriotism."