“What’s Past is Prologue…”
July 4, 2020
Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7)
Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) tweeted:
Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of “independence”, while you enslaved our ancestors. We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all. ✊ https://t.co/YCD2SYlgv4 https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1279463720318570497?s=20
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/arts/colin-kaepernick-perilous-fight-halftime-protest-nfl.html
Colin Kaepernick’s Memoir Addresses His National Anthem Protests
The former N.F.L. quarterback began protesting after becoming enraged by police killings, he writes in “The Perilous Fight.”
PHOTO: Colin Kaepernick, center, kneeling during the national anthem in October 2016. Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
by Emmanuel Morgan
September 15, 2026
New York Times
A decade after the quarterback Colin Kaepernick protested racial injustice by sitting or kneeling during the national anthem before N.F.L. games, he has written a memoir, “The Perilous Fight.”
The nearly 300-page book, which was released on Tuesday, revisits the saga from Kaepernick’s perspective. His protest spread across the league and became a political lightning rod that forced fans to grapple with the meanings of patriotism and free speech.
Here is what to know about the controversy and the memoir:
When did Kaepernick’s protest begin?
Several years after Kaepernick led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance, he was spotted sitting on the bench while the national anthem played ahead of a preseason game in August 2016.
After the game, Kaepernick told Steve Wyche, a reporter from NFL Network, that he would not “stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color.” The comments immediately drew backlash, particularly from those who considered his actions disrespectful to military veterans.
Kaepernick began kneeling instead of sitting, and was joined in protest by his teammate Eric Reid and other N.F.L. players. High school, college and professional athletes across other sports also began protesting, including the soccer player Megan Rapinoe.
In September 2017, President Trump used an expletive to describe Kaepernick during a rally and suggested that N.F.L. owners should fire players who did not stand for the anthem.
What happened to Kaepernick?
When Kaepernick became a free agent after the 2016 season, no team signed him. He filed a grievance through the players’ union that argued that the 32 N.F.L. owners had colluded to blackball him because of his protests.
After an independent arbitrator ruled that the case could go forward, the N.F.L. reached a confidential settlement with Kaepernick and Reid. The league did not publicly admit collusion.
In the years since Kaepernick’s playing career stalled, he has worked as a civil rights activist and started media projects. He cocreated the Netflix series “Colin in Black & White,” which explored his high school years, and also released a children’s book and a graphic novel.
ESPN greenlit a documentary centered on Kaepernick that was to be produced by Spike Lee, but the project was canceled after Kaepernick and Lee disagreed over the creative approach.
What was the fallout in the N.F.L.?
After high-profile musicians said that in solidarity with Kaepernick, they would not participate in the Super Bowl halftime show, the N.F.L. signed a partnership with Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, to help produce the show and work on social justice initiatives. The deal, signed in 2019, drew backlash. Some said it was hypocritical of Jay-Z, who had worn Kaepernick’s jersey during a “Saturday Night Live” performance in 2017.
In announcing the deal, Jay-Z said he felt the public needed to move past kneeling to enact more concrete changes. Headliners of the seven Super Bowl shows Roc Nation has helped produce include Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna. In 2022, as part of a hip-hop medley that included Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, Eminem took a knee during the performance, an act that was widely interpreted as a nod to Kaepernick.
After the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, several Black N.F.L. players posted a video on social media that urged the league to take a definitive stance against systemic racism. Roger Goodell, the N.F.L. commissioner, responded in a video, saying the league was “wrong for not listening to N.F.L. players earlier” and encouraging all to “speak out and peacefully protest.” Kaepernick’s name was not mentioned.
Teams now have the option to paint slogans such as “End Racism” and “Stop Hate” on portions of the field, and players can wear them on the backs of their helmets.
The Perilous Fight
by Colin Kaepernick
Legacy Lit 2026
by Colin Kaepernick
Legacy Lit 2026
What does Kaepernick’s memoir reveal?
Kaepernick writes that his worldview was reshaped around 2015 after he began reading a series of books, including the autobiography of the civil rights leader Malcolm X.
He said he also became enraged after watching video of the San Francisco police fatally shooting a Black man, Mario Woods. That 2015 shooting led to protests, a lawsuit and the eventual ouster of the police chief. He writes that he was further affected by the killings of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, in 2015, and Philando Castile in Minnesota, in 2016.
Kaepernick said he was surprised that the controversy over his decision to sit during the national anthem swelled into a major news story. “Wow, y’all are really sensitive!” he writes in the memoir. “I thought. ‘Y’all can see a Black man get killed on camera and be like, ‘Hmm, where should we go for lunch?’ But let me not stand for the anthem and you have this visceral reaction? This is the thing that upsets you?”
In the memoir, Kaepernick also challenges the popular account of why he started kneeling during the national anthem instead of sitting.
Nate Boyer, a U.S. Army Green Beret veteran who briefly played in the N.F.L., has said he suggested kneeling as a more respectful posture toward the military. But Kaepernick writes that although he and Reid did meet with Boyer, their decision to kneel had already been made. He said Reid came up with the idea to be physically closer to their teammates on the sideline.
“It was a clear illustration of white supremacy at work — a white savior military veteran who used to play football telling us what to do,” Kaepernick writes. “A convenient narrative that made our protest more palatable.”
Kaepernick also writes about Roc Nation, saying he declined when it recruited him to be a client. He said he turned down a request from Jay-Z to kneel during a performance of the song “The Story of O.J.,” in part because he disagreed with some of its lyrics about race.
The day before Roc Nation announced its partnership with the N.F.L., Jay-Z called Kaepernick and told him the news, the athlete wrote. Kaepernick said he disapproved.
“‘I just want you to know, one, you’re serving the culture up to a bunch of racists and, two, they don’t care about you,” Kaepernick writes, recalling the conversation. “‘You’re the music guy to them. They quite literally need a Black face — and have said as much.’” Jay-Z’s response, he wrote, was, “‘Well, the ink’s dry.’”
Emmanuel Morgan reports on sports, pop culture and entertainment.
See more on: National Football League, Roc Nation, Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid
“What’s Past is Prologue…"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/jay-z-helps-nfl-banish-colin-kaepernick/596146/
Ideas
Jay-Z Helped the NFL Banish Colin Kaepernick
The former quarterback caused a problem for the league—which turned to the celebrated rapper for assistance.
by Jemele Hill
August 15, 2019
The Atlantic
PHOTO: Jay- Z. USA Today Sports / Reuters
Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.
I assume neither Goodell nor Jay-Z expected to be on the defensive once the NFL announced that it would give Roc Nation, the music mogul’s entertainment company, significant power in choosing the performers for the league’s signature events—including the coveted Super Bowl halftime show. Jay-Z and Roc Nation will also help augment the NFL’s social-justice initiatives by developing content and spaces where players can speak about the issues that concern them.
This wasn’t just another routine example of Jay-Z living out a lyric he’d rapped nearly 15 years ago—“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man!” Instead, the rapper faced questions yesterday about why he chose to collaborate with the same league that he’d publicly criticized for its treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who hasn’t had an NFL job since taking a knee during the national anthem three years ago to protest police brutality and racial injustice. This is the same Jay-Z who showed support for Kaepernick by wearing his jersey on Saturday Night Live. On his megahit song “Apeshit,” Jay-Z rapped this lyric: “Once I said no to the Super Bowl: You need me, I don’t need you. Every night we in the end zone. Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”
Now he’s in business with the league.
Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab, wrote on Twitter that Kaepernick didn’t speak with Jay-Z before he brokered his deal with the NFL. Jay-Z said yesterday that he spoke to Kaepernick on Monday, but he wouldn’t divulge how their conversation went.
Jemele Hill: Kaepernick won. The NFL lost.
A source close to Kaepernick, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, told me, “It was not a good conversation.”
But it was all smiles yesterday between Jay-Z and Goodell.
“We don’t want people to come in and necessarily agree with us; we want people to come in and tell us what we can do better,” Goodell said at the press conference. “I think that’s a core element of our relationship between the two organizations, and with Jay and I personally.”
The financial arrangements have not been made public. But whatever the numbers, the NFL’s new partnership with Jay-Z is a huge win for the league. Some of the biggest celebrities in the world have voiced their support of Kaepernick, saying they would boycott the NFL until Kaepernick is back in the league.
The former quarterback caused a problem for the league—which turned to the celebrated rapper for assistance.
by Jemele Hill
August 15, 2019
The Atlantic
Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.
I assume neither Goodell nor Jay-Z expected to be on the defensive once the NFL announced that it would give Roc Nation, the music mogul’s entertainment company, significant power in choosing the performers for the league’s signature events—including the coveted Super Bowl halftime show. Jay-Z and Roc Nation will also help augment the NFL’s social-justice initiatives by developing content and spaces where players can speak about the issues that concern them.
This wasn’t just another routine example of Jay-Z living out a lyric he’d rapped nearly 15 years ago—“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man!” Instead, the rapper faced questions yesterday about why he chose to collaborate with the same league that he’d publicly criticized for its treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who hasn’t had an NFL job since taking a knee during the national anthem three years ago to protest police brutality and racial injustice. This is the same Jay-Z who showed support for Kaepernick by wearing his jersey on Saturday Night Live. On his megahit song “Apeshit,” Jay-Z rapped this lyric: “Once I said no to the Super Bowl: You need me, I don’t need you. Every night we in the end zone. Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”
Now he’s in business with the league.
Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab, wrote on Twitter that Kaepernick didn’t speak with Jay-Z before he brokered his deal with the NFL. Jay-Z said yesterday that he spoke to Kaepernick on Monday, but he wouldn’t divulge how their conversation went.
Jemele Hill: Kaepernick won. The NFL lost.
A source close to Kaepernick, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, told me, “It was not a good conversation.”
But it was all smiles yesterday between Jay-Z and Goodell.
“We don’t want people to come in and necessarily agree with us; we want people to come in and tell us what we can do better,” Goodell said at the press conference. “I think that’s a core element of our relationship between the two organizations, and with Jay and I personally.”
The financial arrangements have not been made public. But whatever the numbers, the NFL’s new partnership with Jay-Z is a huge win for the league. Some of the biggest celebrities in the world have voiced their support of Kaepernick, saying they would boycott the NFL until Kaepernick is back in the league.
Now that the NFL has Jay-Z’s blessing, it’s conceivable that some of those entertainers who distanced themselves from the NFL might change their mind. Jay-Z has given the NFL exactly what it wanted: guilt-free access to black audiences, culture, entertainers, and influencers.
NFL officials must have been bothered by how much Kaepernick was discussed during Super Bowl week earlier this year. Not only did Goodell have to answer more questions about why Kaepernick still isn’t receiving any interest from NFL teams, but there had also been a number of reports that the league was having a hard time finding performers for its halftime show. Some stars, including Rihanna and Cardi B, reportedly turned down the opportunity to appear at the event show out of allegiance to Kaepernick. Other celebrities, such as the comedian Amy Schumer, publicly pressured the Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine to pull out of his performance. The Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil-rights leader, blasted the rapper Travis Scott, who performed with Levine. “You can’t fight against Jim Crow and then go sit in the back of the bus,” Sharpton told TMZ.
Ironically, one of the people who also advised Scott not to perform at the Super Bowl was Jay-Z. Yesterday the Roc Nation founder said he’d told Scott he shouldn’t perform at the Super Bowl because he would be playing “second fiddle” to Maroon 5. It had nothing to do with Kaepernick.
Clearly Jay-Z’s support of Kaepernick only went so far. Regardless, why would Jay-Z waste any of his enormous social and cultural capital on the NFL when he doesn’t need the league’s platform, money, resources, or validation?
Read: The war on black athletes
Colin Kaepernick, Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience (full speech)
Colin Kaepernick gave a powerful speech in Amsterdam when he received Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award 2018. His former teammate and close friend, Eric Reid, was present at the ceremony and handed him the award.
April 25, 2018
April 25, 2018
Amnesty International
VIDEO:
September 11, 2026
VIDEO:
Audiobook of text is produced by and releases Exclusively from Audible on September 15, 2026
Hardcover: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Bookshop | Hachette Book Group | Walmart
Support Black Owned Bookstores - Order Here
Audio: Audible | Apple
New York, NY
(April 7, 2026)
Renowned Civil Rights Activist and Super Bowl quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, announced plans today to publish THE PERILOUS FIGHT, a new memoir acquired by Legacy Lit Editor, Amina Iro. Iro acquired World Rights from Creative Artists Agency, LLC. Legacy Lit will publish in hardcover and eBook editions on September 15, 2026. The audiobook, narrated by Kaepernick, is produced by and will be available exclusively from Audible to coincide with the hardcover and eBook release.
On September 1, 2016, Colin Kaepernick took a knee during The Star Spangled Banner, but the world has never fully understood his story. Not the “why.” Not what it cost. Not what it took to become the man who was ready for that moment.
That story begins in Turlock, California, where Kaepernick, a Black kid adopted into a white family, spent his earliest years navigating an identity the world around him didn't always know how to hold. Everything that connected him to who he truly was—his Blackness, his culture, his sense of self—was met with resistance. Sports became his refuge and his proving ground. On the field, his talent could not be questioned, minimized, or taken from him. It was the one space that was entirely his. And what that space produced was extraordinary: a quarterback whose arm and instincts would carry him to the Super Bowl and into the history books.
But success brought with it an education he hadn't anticipated. He began to see the NFL not just as a league, but as a mirror of American capitalism, of racial exploitation, of a country that celebrated Black entertainment and criminalized Black lives in the same breath. He had been reading: Malcolm X. Muhammad Ali. Huey P. Newton. Angela Davis. He had been watching. And what he saw in the NFL, in Turlock, in the repeated, unpunished killing of Black and Brown Americans by the very systems claiming to protect them, converged into an undeniable truth: this was not someone else's fight. It was his. It is ours.
When Kaepernick knelt, he was not acting on impulse. He was acting on years of becoming, of absorbing, reckoning, and refusing to look away. In response, the NFL blackballed him, the country revealed its true self, and the man who had spent his whole life earning his place chose, deliberately, to risk all of it for something larger than himself.
But in the ten years since he took a knee, the questions his protest raised about race, power, identity, and the courage it takes to fight for a more equitable world have not gone away. They are the questions of our time. They are the questions this book answers.
"People saw the moment. But they didn't see the years that made it possible: the questions about who I was; the injustices I could no longer ignore; the voices of those who came before me that I carried into that stadium. That journey, from a Black kid navigating an identity the world didn't always make space for, to an athlete who realized the game was bigger than football, shaped everything. When I took a knee, it wasn't a sudden act. It was the result of years of becoming. And what came after taught me the most important truth: this fight has never belonged to one person. It belongs to all of us. We fight for each other. We build with each other. We must fight for justice and equity with the courage and clarity this moment demands. That is how we build a future worth fighting for." says Kaepernick.
"One of the pillars of the Legacy Lit imprint is to inspire social change through unique and powerful stories and there are few better suited to represent that mission than Colin Kaepernick," says Krishan Trotman, VP, Publisher, Legacy Lit. "He was the catalyst of an undeniable movement that captured the attention and interest of the world. I am thrilled that he chose Legacy Lit as a partner in sharing his valuable perspective, and his unvarnished story for the first time. Colin is an inspiration to so many, and I know that readers, the world over, will be moved by his poignant memoir."
Diana Dapito, Audible Head of Consumer Content, said: “Hearing Colin Kaepernick tell his story in his own voice brings an urgency and authenticity that only he can deliver, and we’re honored to capture his words in this audiobook. This is a once-in-a-generation story that’s powerfully relevant today. It’s a privilege to serve as the exclusive audio publisher for this memoir and to collaborate with Colin and Legacy Lit to bring this vital work to listeners worldwide.”
In THE PERILOUS FIGHT, Kaepernick delivers his story with the same unflinching conviction that defined the moment the world watched. Equal parts memoir and manifesto, it traces the off-the-field battles that turned a single act of protest into a movement that changed American sports and culture forever. This is the story of a man who became someone the moment demanded. It is a story about identity, sacrifice, and the cost of courage. And it is, ultimately, a story about all of us and the future we are still fighting to build.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Colin Kaepernick is a Super Bowl quarterback who holds the all-time NFL record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. He is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, and civil rights activist. He is the founder of the Know Your Rights Camp, Kaepernick Media (Formerly Ra Vision Media), Kaepernick Publishing, and Lumi Story AI. He has been awarded Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, the ACLU's Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, and numerous others for his work in athletics and advocacy. His show, Colin in Black and White, co-produced by Ava DuVernay, has won two NAACP Awards, his Nike "Dream Crazy" has won an Emmy, and he's been featured in GQ, Men's Health, TIME, Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, New York Times, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and many more. Learn more at Kaepernick7.com and follow for updates on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X.com, and YouTube.
About Legacy Lit:
Legacy Lit is an imprint dedicated to giving voice to issues, authors, and all groups that have been underrepresented, under-served, and overlooked. Our mission is to inspire social change and to elevate and celebrate diverse communities. We are unapologetically intentional and committed to promoting equality and equity for all people. Our books uplift and celebrate diverse communities using fresh narratives, powerful storytelling, and big ideas that will educate, enlighten, and inspire.
About Grand Central Publishing Group:
Grand Central Publishing Group reaches a diverse audience through books that cater to every kind of reader. Our divisions include Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Nashville, and Union Square & Co.
About Hachette Book Group:
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading US general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group; Grand Central Publishing Group; Hachette Audio; Little, Brown and Company; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Orbit; and Workman Running Press Group. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to other publishing companies.
Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize and other major honors.
We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world's third-largest trade and educational publisher.
Visit hachettebookgroup.com to learn more about HBG imprints. For updated news follow HBG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X.com, Pinterest, and YouTube.
About Audible:
Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering global audiences a powerful way to enhance and enrich their lives through extraordinary content. Audible’s catalog includes more than 1,000,000 audio titles, including Audible Originals as well as audiobooks and podcasts from leading studios, print, audio and magazine publishers and world-renowned entertainers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Megan Perritt-Jacobson, Senior Director of Publicity, GCP Non-Fiction
megan.perritt-jacobson@hbgusa.com
Estefania Acquaviva, Senior Publicist, GCP Non-Fiction
Estefania.acquaviva@hbgusa.com
Higher Learning
September 16, 2026
VIDEO:
Hardcover: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Bookshop | Hachette Book Group | Walmart
Support Black Owned Bookstores - Order Here
Audio: Audible | Apple
New York, NY
(April 7, 2026)
Renowned Civil Rights Activist and Super Bowl quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, announced plans today to publish THE PERILOUS FIGHT, a new memoir acquired by Legacy Lit Editor, Amina Iro. Iro acquired World Rights from Creative Artists Agency, LLC. Legacy Lit will publish in hardcover and eBook editions on September 15, 2026. The audiobook, narrated by Kaepernick, is produced by and will be available exclusively from Audible to coincide with the hardcover and eBook release.
On September 1, 2016, Colin Kaepernick took a knee during The Star Spangled Banner, but the world has never fully understood his story. Not the “why.” Not what it cost. Not what it took to become the man who was ready for that moment.
That story begins in Turlock, California, where Kaepernick, a Black kid adopted into a white family, spent his earliest years navigating an identity the world around him didn't always know how to hold. Everything that connected him to who he truly was—his Blackness, his culture, his sense of self—was met with resistance. Sports became his refuge and his proving ground. On the field, his talent could not be questioned, minimized, or taken from him. It was the one space that was entirely his. And what that space produced was extraordinary: a quarterback whose arm and instincts would carry him to the Super Bowl and into the history books.
But success brought with it an education he hadn't anticipated. He began to see the NFL not just as a league, but as a mirror of American capitalism, of racial exploitation, of a country that celebrated Black entertainment and criminalized Black lives in the same breath. He had been reading: Malcolm X. Muhammad Ali. Huey P. Newton. Angela Davis. He had been watching. And what he saw in the NFL, in Turlock, in the repeated, unpunished killing of Black and Brown Americans by the very systems claiming to protect them, converged into an undeniable truth: this was not someone else's fight. It was his. It is ours.
When Kaepernick knelt, he was not acting on impulse. He was acting on years of becoming, of absorbing, reckoning, and refusing to look away. In response, the NFL blackballed him, the country revealed its true self, and the man who had spent his whole life earning his place chose, deliberately, to risk all of it for something larger than himself.
But in the ten years since he took a knee, the questions his protest raised about race, power, identity, and the courage it takes to fight for a more equitable world have not gone away. They are the questions of our time. They are the questions this book answers.
"People saw the moment. But they didn't see the years that made it possible: the questions about who I was; the injustices I could no longer ignore; the voices of those who came before me that I carried into that stadium. That journey, from a Black kid navigating an identity the world didn't always make space for, to an athlete who realized the game was bigger than football, shaped everything. When I took a knee, it wasn't a sudden act. It was the result of years of becoming. And what came after taught me the most important truth: this fight has never belonged to one person. It belongs to all of us. We fight for each other. We build with each other. We must fight for justice and equity with the courage and clarity this moment demands. That is how we build a future worth fighting for." says Kaepernick.
"One of the pillars of the Legacy Lit imprint is to inspire social change through unique and powerful stories and there are few better suited to represent that mission than Colin Kaepernick," says Krishan Trotman, VP, Publisher, Legacy Lit. "He was the catalyst of an undeniable movement that captured the attention and interest of the world. I am thrilled that he chose Legacy Lit as a partner in sharing his valuable perspective, and his unvarnished story for the first time. Colin is an inspiration to so many, and I know that readers, the world over, will be moved by his poignant memoir."
Diana Dapito, Audible Head of Consumer Content, said: “Hearing Colin Kaepernick tell his story in his own voice brings an urgency and authenticity that only he can deliver, and we’re honored to capture his words in this audiobook. This is a once-in-a-generation story that’s powerfully relevant today. It’s a privilege to serve as the exclusive audio publisher for this memoir and to collaborate with Colin and Legacy Lit to bring this vital work to listeners worldwide.”
In THE PERILOUS FIGHT, Kaepernick delivers his story with the same unflinching conviction that defined the moment the world watched. Equal parts memoir and manifesto, it traces the off-the-field battles that turned a single act of protest into a movement that changed American sports and culture forever. This is the story of a man who became someone the moment demanded. It is a story about identity, sacrifice, and the cost of courage. And it is, ultimately, a story about all of us and the future we are still fighting to build.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Colin Kaepernick is a Super Bowl quarterback who holds the all-time NFL record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. He is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, and civil rights activist. He is the founder of the Know Your Rights Camp, Kaepernick Media (Formerly Ra Vision Media), Kaepernick Publishing, and Lumi Story AI. He has been awarded Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, the ACLU's Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, and numerous others for his work in athletics and advocacy. His show, Colin in Black and White, co-produced by Ava DuVernay, has won two NAACP Awards, his Nike "Dream Crazy" has won an Emmy, and he's been featured in GQ, Men's Health, TIME, Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, New York Times, the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and many more. Learn more at Kaepernick7.com and follow for updates on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X.com, and YouTube.
About Legacy Lit:
Legacy Lit is an imprint dedicated to giving voice to issues, authors, and all groups that have been underrepresented, under-served, and overlooked. Our mission is to inspire social change and to elevate and celebrate diverse communities. We are unapologetically intentional and committed to promoting equality and equity for all people. Our books uplift and celebrate diverse communities using fresh narratives, powerful storytelling, and big ideas that will educate, enlighten, and inspire.
About Grand Central Publishing Group:
Grand Central Publishing Group reaches a diverse audience through books that cater to every kind of reader. Our divisions include Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Nashville, and Union Square & Co.
About Hachette Book Group:
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading US general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group; Grand Central Publishing Group; Hachette Audio; Little, Brown and Company; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Orbit; and Workman Running Press Group. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to other publishing companies.
Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize and other major honors.
We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world's third-largest trade and educational publisher.
Visit hachettebookgroup.com to learn more about HBG imprints. For updated news follow HBG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X.com, Pinterest, and YouTube.
About Audible:
Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering global audiences a powerful way to enhance and enrich their lives through extraordinary content. Audible’s catalog includes more than 1,000,000 audio titles, including Audible Originals as well as audiobooks and podcasts from leading studios, print, audio and magazine publishers and world-renowned entertainers.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Megan Perritt-Jacobson, Senior Director of Publicity, GCP Non-Fiction
megan.perritt-jacobson@hbgusa.com
Estefania Acquaviva, Senior Publicist, GCP Non-Fiction
Estefania.acquaviva@hbgusa.com
Higher Learning
September 16, 2026
VIDEO:
New Episodes
Surprise, Thought Warriors! Higher Learning is here with a pop-up episode featuring none other than Colin Kaepernick in the studio! Kaepernick drops by not just to promote his new book, 'The Perilous Fight,' but to have a real conversation with Van and Rachel about everything. From civil rights to NFL blackballing to racial identity to protesting against police brutality to Target, no topic is off-limits.
Surprise, Thought Warriors! Higher Learning is here with a pop-up episode featuring none other than Colin Kaepernick in the studio! Kaepernick drops by not just to promote his new book, 'The Perilous Fight,' but to have a real conversation with Van and Rachel about everything. From civil rights to NFL blackballing to racial identity to protesting against police brutality to Target, no topic is off-limits.
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Welcome to Higher Learning
(2:59) Colin Kaepernick joins us in the studio; 'The Perilous Fight' out September 15
(15:52) Racial identity
(26:48) NFL career
(45:52) The settlement
(58:02) Muddled message?
(1:08:08) Growth through adversity
(1:19:07) Fighting the good fight
Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Colin Kaepernick Producers: Marco Escalante and Jade Whaley Social Producer: Bernard Moore Video Supervision: Chris Thomas
(00:00) Welcome to Higher Learning
(2:59) Colin Kaepernick joins us in the studio; 'The Perilous Fight' out September 15
(15:52) Racial identity
(26:48) NFL career
(45:52) The settlement
(58:02) Muddled message?
(1:08:08) Growth through adversity
(1:19:07) Fighting the good fight
Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Colin Kaepernick Producers: Marco Escalante and Jade Whaley Social Producer: Bernard Moore Video Supervision: Chris Thomas
Colin Kaepernick Reflects On Decision To Take A Knee | The View
The View
September 14, 2026
VIDEO:
The former NFL quarterback joins “The View” to discuss his new memoir, "The Perilous Fight," the controversy he says ended his NFL career, and how early experiences with racism shaped his activism
https://lithub.com/colin-kaepernick-on-the-link-between-abolition-and-black-liberation/
PHOTO: Colin Kaepernick (b. November 3, 1987)
https://lithub.com/colin-kaepernick-on-the-link-between-abolition-and-black-liberation/
PHOTO: Colin Kaepernick (b. November 3, 1987)
Colin Kaepernick on the Link Between Abolition and Black Liberation
“It is only logical that systemic problems demand systemic solutions.”
by Colin Kaepernick
October 7, 2021
Literary Hub
In the wake of the state-sanctioned lynchings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others, the United States has been forced to grapple with not only the devastation of police terrorism, but also the institutions that constitute, enhance, and expand the carceral state. In response, movements that demand the defunding of the police have spread across the country with no signs of stopping.
Those who have been terrorized by law enforcement, who have had enough of their very existence being criminalized, and who have dedicated their lives to the cause of liberation by any means necessary are demanding the abolition of the carceral state—the institutions, structures, and practices of anti-Black state-sanctioned violence that violate the fundamental humanity of Black and Indigenous people, and people of color.
It’s been five years since I first protested during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” At the time, my protest was tethered to my understanding that something was not right. I saw the bodies of Black people left dead in the streets. I saw them left dead in their cars. I saw them left dead in their backyards. I saw Black death all around me at the hands of the police. I saw little to no accountability for the police officers who had murdered them. It is not a matter of bad apples spoiling the bunch but interlocking systems that are rotten to their core and are authorized to kill Black people and other communities under the pretense of “justice.”
Modes of reformist and reactionary “justice” fail to remedy the uninterrupted deaths caused by policing and prisons and frequently leave us disheartened, disjointed, and disillusioned.
It is only logical that systemic problems demand systemic solutions.
Predictably, the political mainstream has responded to political uprisings by shifting the demands to “defund the police” to reformist interventions centered on “acceptable” modes of enacting death and violence upon oppressed peoples. As such, conventional paths and strategies for achieving “justice” for anti-Black police terror and violence are all too often couched in campaigns and desires for convictions, punishment, and incarceration. These modes of reformist and reactionary “justice” fail to remedy the uninterrupted deaths caused by policing and prisons and frequently leave us disheartened, disjointed, and disillusioned.
Despite the steady cascade of anti-Black violence across this country, I am hopeful we can build a future that imagines justice differently. A future without the terror of policing and prisons. A future that prioritizes harm reduction, redemption, and public well-being in order to create a more just and humane world.
To understand the necessity and urgency of abolition, we must first understand the genesis and histories of the institutions and practices we must abolish.
The central intent of policing has and continues to be to surveil, terrorize, capture, and kill marginalized populations, specifically Black folks. In her edited collection, Imprisoned Intellectuals, Joy James put the United States under the magnifying glass. “The world can see what goes on in the tombs of America as Black people are being slowly strangled and suffocated to death,” she writes.
When the world witnessed the police choke Eric Garner to death as he gasped, “I can’t breathe”—that is an act of terror. When a cop car pulled up to Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old boy, and the cop shot him in less than two seconds—that is an act of terror. When police broke down ninety-two-year-old Kathryn Johnston’s front door, unloaded thirty-nine rounds, and left five bullets buried in her body—that is an act of terror. We recognize this as anti-Black violence and control while law enforcement and the injustice system see it as essential to the very nature of the job.
In order to eradicate anti-Blackness, we must also abolish the police. The abolition of one without the other is impossible.
The political project of anti-Blackness has always been central to the enforcement of laws and legal codes in the United States. Sally E. Hadden’s Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas lays out an irrefutable case that slavery and policing are linked both in logic and philosophy. South Carolina’s 1701 “Act for the Better Ordering of Slaves” declared that any enslaved African “resisting” a white person could be beaten (like Rodney King in 1991), maimed (like Jacob Blake in 2020), assaulted (like Marlene Pinnock in 2014), or killed if they “resisted” (like Korryn Gaines in 2016) or took flight (like Rayshard Brooks in 2020).
The more that I have learned about the history and evolution of policing in the United States, the more I understand its roots in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton once said, “The police are in our community not to promote our welfare or for our security or our safety, but they are there to contain us, to brutalize us, and murder us.” The omnipresent threat of premature death at the hands, knees, chokeholds, Tasers, and guns of law enforcement has only further engrained its anti-Black foundation into the institutions of policing. In order to eradicate anti-Blackness, we must also abolish the police. The abolition of one without the other is impossible.
As part of the reentry work I have done with Kevin Livingston from 100 Suits for 100 Men4 at Rikers Island, I have spent time with young Black men in the facility no older than twenty. The young men explained the prison’s dehumanizing conditions that range from denial of literature to physical assault. They have been criminalized and caged, in most cases, for attempting to resist being redlined into economic despair.
Forever emblazoned in my memory are the words of one of the young Black men: “You love us when no one else does.”
Forever emblazoned in my memory are the words of one of the young Black men: “You love us when no one else does.” The young brother was seeking love. He was seeking care. He was seeking a space that valued his life. What he received was hate and what abolitionist scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore would call “organized abandonment.”
As Angela Y. Davis has written, “prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings.” Prisons do not contain a “criminal population” running rampant but rather a population that society has repeatedly failed.
Uprisings in response to the hellish conditions Black folk have been forced to live in, both in and out of prison, have been criminalized as well. In her book Are Prisons Obsolete?, Davis effectively analyzes the purpose of prisons. “These prisons represent the application of sophisticated, modern technology dedicated entirely to the task of social control,” she writes, “and they isolate, regulate, and surveil more effectively than anything that has preceded them.” An institution based on social control instead of social well-being is an institution that needs to be abolished.
I recently revisited the 2016 postgame interview when I was first asked about not standing during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” One of the reporters inquired about the reasoning behind my dissent. “There’s a lot of things that need to change,” I replied. “One specifically is police brutality. There’s people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. Cops are getting paid leave for killing people. That’s not right. That’s not right by anyone’s standards.”
Unconsciously, my critique of police terrorism was fastened to a reformist framework. My want for accountability focused on the cops receiving convictions and punishment, not acquittals and paid vacations. But I had missed the larger picture. The focus on individual punishment will never alter the outcome of a system rooted in Black death. I wanted change. I wanted it to stop. I wanted to reform what I saw. Yet, the reforms often proposed—use-of-force policies, body cameras, more training, and “police accountability”—were the same recycled interventions consistently proposed in the past. And in both the past and the present, these reforms have done nothing to stop the actions that force us to #SayTheirNames.
Similarly, suggested prison reforms—new jail construction to address crowding and dehumanizing living conditions and technological monitoring that essentially creates open-air prisons—have not and cannot eliminate the harm of the carceral state. The thread that ties all of these reforms together is the increased investment of capital into the carceral apparatus. In a recent interview on the geographies of racial capitalism, Ruth Wilson Gilmore said that “capitalism requires inequality, and racism enshrines it.” It made me think about the economies of exploitation, deprivation, and captivity that propel forward incarceration and the construction of prisons. These economies disproportionately target Black, Brown, and poor white people. It made me think about how the carceral state is central to the machinery of racial capitalism.
I began to ask myself the question “What is being reformed or reformulated?”
Ultimately, I realized that seeking reform would make me an active participant in reforming, reshaping, and rebranding institutional white supremacy, oppression, and death. This constant re-interrogation of my own analysis has been part of my political evolution.
“One should recall that the movement for reforming the prisons, for controlling their functioning, is not a recent phenomenon,” Michel Foucault wrote in Discipline & Punish. “It does not even seem to have originated in a recognition of failure. Prison ‘reform’ is virtually contemporary with the prison itself: it constitutes, as it were, its programme.” Reform, at its core, preserves, enhances, and further entrenches policing and prisons into the United States’ social order. Abolition is the only way to secure a future beyond anti-Black institutions of social control, violence, and premature death.
Abolition is a means to create a future where justice and liberation are fundamental to realizing the full humanity of communities. Practices of abolitionists are focused on harm reduction, public health, and the well-being of people. Demands to defund the police and prisons are one of the ways to first realize the goals of investing in people and divesting from punishment and, in time, progress to the complete abolition of the carceral state, including police and policing.
To be clear, the abolition of these institutions is not the absence of accountability but rather the establishment of transformative and restorative processes that do not depend upon anti-Black institutions rooted in punitive practices. By abolishing policing and prisons, not only can we eliminate white supremacist establishments, but we can create space for budgets to be reinvested directly into communities to address mental health needs, homelessness and houselessness, access to education, and job creation as well as community-based methods of accountability. This is a future that centers the needs of the people, a future that will make us safer, healthier, and truly free.
Another world is possible, a world grounded in love, justice, and accountability, a world grounded in safety and good health, a world grounded in meeting the needs of the people.
Abolition now. Abolition for the people.
______________________________________________
From: Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons
edited by Colin Kaepernick.
Used with permission from Kaepernick Publishing.
Colin Kaepernick, Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience (full speech)
Colin Kaepernick gave a powerful speech in Amsterdam when he received Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award 2018. His former teammate and close friend, Eric Reid, was present at the ceremony and handed him the award.
April 25, 2018
Amnesty International
VIDEO:
Colin Kaepernick, Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience (full speech)
Colin Kaepernick gave a powerful speech in Amsterdam when he received Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience Award 2018. His former teammate and close friend, Eric Reid, was present at the ceremony and handed him the award.
April 25, 2018
Amnesty International
VIDEO:
Colin Kaepernick The Perilous Fight Book Signing Event | Abyssinian Baptist Church (Harlem, NYC)
Abyssinian Baptist Church
Streamed live 16 hours ago
September 15, 2026
VIDEO:
Join us at The Abyssinian Baptist Church for the launch of Colin Kaepernick’s highly anticipated memoir, The Perilous Fight. Kaepernick reflects on his journey from professional football to becoming a powerful voice for racial justice, sharing the experiences and convictions that shaped his decision to stand for what he believes in. Be sure to purchase your copy of The Perilous Fight in advance! Follow the link below to purchase your book and learn more about the event:
by Howard Bryant
The Daily Beast
February 1, 2020
PHOTO: Howard Bryant (b. November 25, 1968)
PHOTO: Full dissidence: Notes From An Uneven Playing Field by Howard Bryant (Beacon Press, 2020)
[Excerpt from an essay from Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field by Howard Bryant (Beacon Press, 2020). Reprinted with permission from Beacon Press]:
"... It was clear that a man who had broken no laws and had only spoken his mind was being actively destroyed by the public. And let’s be clear: by public, I mean to say the overwhelmingly white public, and the government. How else does one assess local politicians and law enforcement officers suddenly sufficiently emboldened to undertake an intimidation campaign against one of the world’s most powerful corporations? Though he essentially lives on the fringes of the American mainstream, not speaking publicly, not playing in the NFL, and not organizing protest, so many whites were exposing themselves by their disproportional response to the specter of Kaepernick.
Despite Nike’s corporate duplicity, the fight could not be decoupled from Kaepernick. There was no way out. Parsing percentages of the opposition’s size is a game at which Americans are expert, especially when those in power are indicted. (See: “not all cops,” “not all men,” and “not all white people.”) It is an exercise in tedium but some large portion of this America had decided that Colin Kaepernick had no right to any semblance of a life, a career, or a public presence in any form. They had resolved to destroy him personally, as well as any entity associated with him, even a corporation as enormous and ubiquitous as Nike. In the summer of 2019, when Nike pulled a limited edition Independence Day shoe because Kaepernick reportedly objected to its featuring the Betsy Ross flag, designed at a time when all thirteen colonies were slaveholding, Arizona governor Doug Ducey announced he would eliminate the financial incentives Nike was to receive for building a new plant in the Phoenix suburbs, risking local jobs and economic growth for the city of Goodyear. (Ducey quickly backed down.)
If Kaepernick and Nike were under attack for criticizing police, who deserve every bit of it, then white America had exposed itself yet again in its willingness to sacrifice black life, in its complete and criminal lack of interest in justice. Neither of which, we all know at this late date, is the issue even closely approximating the real one: white people’s desire for black people to be the quiet, obedient renters of the American dream. This unknowable percentage of Americans who believed these things and burned their own belongings could not be dismissed as an irrational or racist fringe because chief among their legions was the power: the president of the United States, police chiefs, local mayors, and state governors. This was what America was, and my mind had to change…"
--Howard Bryant, "Colin Kaepernick Taught Us How Exposed White America Truly Is", The Daily Beast, February 1, 2020
"... It was clear that a man who had broken no laws and had only spoken his mind was being actively destroyed by the public. And let’s be clear: by public, I mean to say the overwhelmingly white public, and the government. How else does one assess local politicians and law enforcement officers suddenly sufficiently emboldened to undertake an intimidation campaign against one of the world’s most powerful corporations? Though he essentially lives on the fringes of the American mainstream, not speaking publicly, not playing in the NFL, and not organizing protest, so many whites were exposing themselves by their disproportional response to the specter of Kaepernick.
Despite Nike’s corporate duplicity, the fight could not be decoupled from Kaepernick. There was no way out. Parsing percentages of the opposition’s size is a game at which Americans are expert, especially when those in power are indicted. (See: “not all cops,” “not all men,” and “not all white people.”) It is an exercise in tedium but some large portion of this America had decided that Colin Kaepernick had no right to any semblance of a life, a career, or a public presence in any form. They had resolved to destroy him personally, as well as any entity associated with him, even a corporation as enormous and ubiquitous as Nike. In the summer of 2019, when Nike pulled a limited edition Independence Day shoe because Kaepernick reportedly objected to its featuring the Betsy Ross flag, designed at a time when all thirteen colonies were slaveholding, Arizona governor Doug Ducey announced he would eliminate the financial incentives Nike was to receive for building a new plant in the Phoenix suburbs, risking local jobs and economic growth for the city of Goodyear. (Ducey quickly backed down.)
If Kaepernick and Nike were under attack for criticizing police, who deserve every bit of it, then white America had exposed itself yet again in its willingness to sacrifice black life, in its complete and criminal lack of interest in justice. Neither of which, we all know at this late date, is the issue even closely approximating the real one: white people’s desire for black people to be the quiet, obedient renters of the American dream. This unknowable percentage of Americans who believed these things and burned their own belongings could not be dismissed as an irrational or racist fringe because chief among their legions was the power: the president of the United States, police chiefs, local mayors, and state governors. This was what America was, and my mind had to change…"
--Howard Bryant, "Colin Kaepernick Taught Us How Exposed White America Truly Is", The Daily Beast, February 1, 2020
