By Dom LoVallo
Managing Editor
Colin Kaepernick has become a household name ever since he began kneeling during the national anthem, causing support or outrage across the nation.
Sunday, Kaepernick made his first start of the season when the San Francisco 49ers came to Buffalo to face the Bills in a week six competition. This put the eyes of the entire country on the city of Buffalo and New Era Field for how they would react to the quarterback’s presence.
Some of the anti-Kaepernick things that happened included a dummy being dressed as Kaepernick and tackled in the parking lot. Multiple videos were uploaded to social media, including a video where someone shouted, “tackle the Muslim” before a woman knocked over the dummy.
T-shirts were also made and sold. One t-shirt said, “Shut Up and Stand Up,” followed by, “Kaeperd*ck.” The other shirt said, “Wanted: Notorious Disgrace to America,” and featured a picture of Kaepernick with a sniper scope placed over him.
On the other hand, groups came together to show support for Kaepernick and his protest. Groups, Just Resisting and Showing Up For Racial Justice, were outside the stadium and knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with Kaepernick. Former Bonaventure student Caitlin Blue was one of the protesters.
For Blue, she was nervous going into the protest, but knew it was something she had to do.
“Being there for the protest was a bit nerve wracking and surreal. You are constantly thinking about various scenarios and the different outcomes of the situation,” said Blue.
“Will someone get hurt? Will you be shoved? Will someone call you a racial slur? How do I react to that? How do I protect myself from harm? You plan ahead and you prepare for the worst. We had every intention of it being peaceful and it turned out to be exactly that. I felt like I was accomplishing something and that I had a voice.”
Blue was prepared for harassment from onlookers, but was surprised by how little the group of protesters were called out.
“We really didn’t have a lot of people at the protest that were saying negative things to us. It was very surprising to me,” said Blue.
“[….] I figured that the reason we didn’t have any altercations is because the majority of the aggression was inside the stadium,” she said.
The debate over Kaepernick’s protest has expanded and continued since his initial comments on Aug. 28. The debate continues throughout the nation if this is the right way to protest or not.
The protest Blue participated in picked up so much recognition, news outlets such as The Buffalo News and The Huffington Post picked up the story.
“Being featured in important news outlets was amazing,” said Blue.
“It meant a lot to me because I was proud that the people that I organized with were being recognized and that my voice was being heard. It felt right to explain to them why we were doing this and so many people could have access to it. It felt good because I knew you couldn’t ignore what I was saying after seeing me in Huffington Post, The Nation and San Francisco Chronicles…” she said.
lovalldv15@bonaventure.edu
