Netflix is making it difficult for its streaming competitors to keep up. The Hollywood staple is home to the new limited series Colin in Black & White, chronicling the life of activist and former pro football player Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick, who narrates the autobiographical story, co-created the series with Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay.
An official first look shows a Kaepernick dressed in all black and sporting a full afro while sharing his experience as a young, adopted biracial kid enamored of sports and growing up in a predominately white neighborhood in California. Actor Jaden Michael, known for his roles in The Get Down and Vampires vs. the Bronx, plays young Colin. Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) plays Kaepernick’s mother, Teresa, and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) plays his father, Rick.
Kaepernick’s life has been quite the story to tell. In 1987, he was adopted by the Kaepernicks as a 5-week-old baby. Throughout his childhood, Kaepernick was an all-around athlete, playing a variety of sports that included baseball, basketball, and football. He would accept a football scholarship to the University of Nevada – Reno, where he would take on the position of backup quarterback. In 2011, Kaepernick was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round as the NFL team’s fourth pick.
Before 2016, when he “shook the table” and disrupted America’s favorite sport by kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial inequality and social injustice at the hands of police, Kaepernick was considered a solid athlete with great potential, taking the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 and snapping out record-breaking career highs in 2013. It helped that he was hailed one of the more attractive quarterbacks in the NFL.
Despite Kaepernick’s impact on the sports industry and societal progression, some people still feel that he has not done enough to help the oppressed. Dez Bryant, wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, expressed his issue with Kaepernick on the I Am Athlete podcast.
“I respect Colin Kaepernick, but there’s one thing that I don’t respect,” said Bryant. “I said when I get the opportunity to get on the stage to say it, I would say it — and I love him to death. So, it ain’t no hate or nothing like that. But, brother, you had the biggest opportunity in the world to create jobs, build jobs, give jobs to people. The people that you was talking about, the people that you so-called standing up for, those people who stood beside you, the people who lost their jobs because of you — where you at? I ain’t heard from you.”
“He brought the awareness, and that’s what I respect,” Bryant continued. When Bryant was asked what was the call to action, he said, “There was no call to action.”
As many people on social media have pointed out, Kaepernick created the Know Your Rights Camp, a campaign serving Black and Brown communities by providing educational and self-empowering resources and conducting camps in places such as, Atlanta, Miami, and Baltimore.
He also aided in establishing a relief fund to help those impacted by the pandemic, in which he has personally donated $100,000 and raised more than $1 million to date. To help with the esteem of young people of color, Kaepernick completed his first children’s book titled I Color Myself Different to be released in April 2022. A series of books are to follow under his banner Kaepernick Publishing.
Colin in Black & White premieres on Netflix Oct. 29.
