I Was Kaepernick’s Lawyer. I Remember What Trump Did.

Written by Ben Meiselas

As we head into the weekend, you may catch an NFL game. I want to reflect on that for a moment. Before I started MeidasTouch, I was a litigator, and in 2017, I served as the lead lawyer for NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick peacefully took a knee to show respect for unarmed Black and brown people who were killed by police.

At first, the NFL supported Kaepernick taking a knee. But then, in September 2017, Donald Trump gave a speech in Huntsville, Alabama, saying, “Get that son of a bitch off the field,” and claimed Kaepernick’s protest was anti-American. MAGA forces attacked Kaepernick, arguing that his protest insulted the National Anthem and the military.

Kaepernick never played in the NFL again.

The same people who attacked Kaepernick and LeBron James—telling Black athletes to “shut up and dribble”—are now encouraging NFL players to do Donald Trump’s idiotic YMCA dance. A propaganda campaign is underway to turn the NFL and all professional sports into a political arm of Trump. This is straight out of the fascist playbook.

Let’s not forget that Donald Trump encouraged people on January 6 to use the American flag as a weapon to assault police officers. Trump sells American flags with his name printed on them. He even replaced the National Anthem with the “January 6 Choir Song” during the election. All the while, the media gave Trump a total pass, even encouraging his propaganda at professional sports events.

Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to submit or cave to the threats he faced in 2017—and in the years since—reminds me that heroes can rise from unlikely places. It also reminds me that resistance to authoritarian forces is not guaranteed. Kaepernick potentially lost hundreds of millions of dollars for standing up for what he believed in. Will others today be willing to make the same type of sacrifice, or has the idol worship of billionaires who exploit people become the fluorescent light drawing us in like mosquitoes to a zapper?

I don’t think I would have ever started the MeidasTouch Network if I hadn’t witnessed Kaepernick’s courage firsthand and seen the power one person’s voice can have on the country and the world. So if you’re watching the NFL or college football this weekend, I encourage you to reflect on Kaepernick’s bravery and what it meant for our country.

I am always inspired by his courage. At MeidasTouch, we’ve built a fearless team prepared to stand up to Trump, to never submit to fascism, to never obey, and to fight on.

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