San Fran QB is a champion of the wrong cause

The whole issue of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick not standing for the national anthem should not surprise anyone. This has been coming for a long time. It’s the product of a divider-in-chief and his willing accomplices in the media.

Let’s look at Kaepernick’s supposed beef with America. He believes black men are being gunned down indiscriminately in the streets by white cops. Why does he believe this? Because the president takes every opportunity to harp on it and the media cherry pick every case of unarmed black men being shot by police and act as if it’s the norm. It’s not.

Kaepernick wearing t-shirt with Castro
and Malcolm X with the caption
'Like minds think alike'

First of all, police shootings of innocent people are extremely rare. Yes, police do occasionally make a mistake. I’m not here to excuse that. What I’m here to do is set the record straight on police shootings in general and race.

Here are the true statistics. In 2015, 50 percent of the fatal shooting victims by police were white, while 26 percent were black. This according to statistics compiled by The Washington Post. What needs to be noted is the vast majority of these ‘victims’ had a gun and were threatening the police.

Before you jump to a conclusion about percentages, it’s important to note that blacks commit roughly 62 percent of the robberies and 57 percent of the murders. Taken in that context, blacks are less likely to be shot by police in relation to the crimes they commit. In other words, white folks are far more likely to be shot by police, especially considering their relatively low crime rate.

Kaepernick is basically a victim of the disinformation machine coming from the left. That’s not to let him off the hook. It’s to explain, possibly, why he’s acting as he is.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that he sees the handwriting on the wall and knows his days in San Francisco are numbered. Perhaps he’s trying to create a controversy around which it would be hard for the 49ers to cut him. But he should be cut because of the controversy.

Everyone wants to talk about Kaepernick’s right to voice his opinion. How about the 49ers’ right to fire him because he’s becoming a circus side show? Their only goal on any given Sunday is to win games. Can you imagine what the season will be like when every eye is on Kaepernick to see if he’ll stand for the national anthem? The questions in the locker room won’t be about the win or the loss but about what the other players think of Kaepernick’s stand.

And his cause will surely spread like a cancer throughout professional sports to other athletes equally ignorant of the facts. There is no more fertile ground for the left than those who are completely in the dark. Elucidation is the antidote to liberalism.

Instead of blaming cops for protecting us, how about if Kaepernick were to focus on the real problem? It’s unconscionable that blacks—predominately black males—are committing over half the murders. The other half of that startling statistic is their victims, over 90 percent of the time, are black.

The issue can be traced to the destruction of the black family. Over 70 percent of black kids today are born to a single mother. Broken homes are breeding grounds for crime, no matter the race.

Kaepernick’s mother gave him up for adoption so that he would have a better home than she could provide as a single mother. If Kaepernick really wants to change the world, his own story would be a good start. 

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.