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Summary
Summary
Riveting and inspiring first-person stories of how "taking a knee" triggered an awakening in sports, from the celebrated sportswriter
"The Kaepernick Effect reveals that Colin Kaepernick's story is bigger than one athlete. With profiles of courage that leap off the page, Zirin uncovers a whole national movement of citizen-athletes fighting for racial justice." --Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist
In 2016, amid an epidemic of police shootings of African Americans, the celebrated NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a series of quiet protests on the field, refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem. By "taking a knee," Kaepernick bravely joined a long tradition of American athletes making powerful political statements. This time, however, Kaepernick's simple act spread like wildfire throughout American society, becoming the preeminent symbol of resistance to America's persistent racial inequality.
Critically acclaimed sports journalist and author of A People's History of Sports in the United States, Dave Zirin chronicles "the Kaepernick effect" for the first time, through interviews with a broad cross-section of professional athletes across many different sports, college stars and high-powered athletic directors, and high school athletes and coaches. In each case, he uncovers the fascinating explanations and motivations behind a mass political movement in sports, through deeply personal and inspiring accounts of risk-taking, activism, and courage both on and off the field.
A book about the politics of sport, and the impact of sports on politics, The Kaepernick Effect is for anyone seeking to understand an essential dimension of the new movement for racial justice in America.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Zirin (Jim Brown), sports editor at The Nation, delivers an enthralling look at the impact of peaceful protest by sports figures at the high school, college, and professional levels. Despite almost leading his team to a Super Bowl title, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's 2016 decision to protest the police shootings of unarmed Black men by taking a knee before football games while the national anthem was played rendered him a pariah in the NFL and left him unemployed. It also, Zirin notes, laid the groundwork for a reckoning within the sport. With deeply moving firsthand accounts from players of all ages from across the country, Zirin underscores how Kaepernick's ostracism has paralleled the treatment of others who have followed his lead, such as one Ohio high schooler who kneeled in protest against white teammates using the N-word and received death threats in response. At the collegiate level, Black players have risked athletic scholarships to speak out against racism, and yet, Zirin writes, "because so many economic levers get pulled only if the athletes play, their power... is overwhelming." In pointing this out, he brings into focus the colossal influence athletes actually have in upending a historically oppressive institution. The result offers rousing evidence of the life-changing effects spurred by individual action. (Sept.)
Kirkus Review
Take a knee, everyone, and start a revolution. NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick did not act impulsively when, in 2016, he knelt down on one knee to protest police violence and racism. He had a long conversation with another NFL player and former Green Beret soldier, who suggested that the protest would be more visible and more meaningful than if Kaepernick simply refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem. "That was, it is safe to say now, a miscalculation," writes Zirin, sports editor for the Nation. The year 2016 witnessed the rise of Donald Trump, "unrepentantly divisive and proudly bigoted," who would go on to reveal his true racist colors the following year at Charlottesville; with Trump, a flood tide of White resentment and anti-Black acts would overwhelm the country. In response, as Zirin chronicles, players and protestors of many ethnicities emulated Kaepernick, sometimes courting significant trouble in doing so. These included a high school class of student athletes who collectively decided to take the knee in racially troubled Minneapolis, a cheerleader who acted alone in doing so, a Black student athlete in a mostly White community in New York who, appalled that the Confederate flag was being flown "as an all-purpose symbol of white supremacy," launched a protest that caught on among young people: "I'm getting recognized for football," he reasoned, "why can't I get recognized for speaking?" Zirin closes his account, which is more in the way of vivid character sketches than anything driven by a governing thesis, with a conversation with John Carlos, who famously raised a fist in a Black Power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and who sagely counsels, "Love thyself. Love thy neighbor. Set a precedent and let them know that we are not the negative force in society. We are the positive force." A thoughtful anecdotal study of protest in our time. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Zirin, sports editor for the Nation, continues to mine gold from that place where sports and politics meet. Here, he examines the impact former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's act of taking a knee at the playing of the national anthem during the 2016 season has had upon sports in America, profiling numerous responses, from high schools to colleges to the pros. There's Seattle's Garfield High School, whose entire football team, followed by its softball team, took a knee before all of their games. And the University of Nebraska linebacker who, alone among his teammates, took a knee before all away games (the anthem wasn't played before home games). And Megan Rapinoe, who early on took a knee in sympathy with Kaepernick before her games. All faced serious backlash; none expressed regret at what they did. Zirin gives ample space for each of the many athletes profiled here to detail the thinking behind their actions. The result is a thoughtful take on what remains a complicated, highly charged issue.
Library Journal Review
In August 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made a tremendous impact by protesting racial injustice and police brutality prior to a preseason NFL game against the Green Bay Packers, journalist and author Zirin (Jim Brown: Last Man Standing) writes. Before the game, Kaepernick sat on the bench and did not stand for the national anthem; he subsequently decided to "take a knee" when the national anthem played at future NFL games. The reactions to Kaepernick were far-reaching, including both praise and censure, as this book recounts. Zirin interviews athletes in various sports (at high school, college, and professional levels), coaches, and league officials about the effect of Kaepernick's on-the-field protests, in which he was soon joined by other NFL players. The author also interviews athletes and coaches throughout the United States who protested racism on the field, court, or rink; many of them describe facing ostracization, condemnation, and even death threats for their activism. VERDICT An insightful book about the wide-reaching effects of Kaepernick's protests. This book is highly recommended and is necessary reading for all, especially those who want to make a difference in promoting social justice, equity, and inclusion, and end police brutality.--Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Queens Village, NY