{"id":1087,"date":"2017-11-17T02:21:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T02:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=1087"},"modified":"2017-11-17T02:21:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T02:21:15","slug":"kaepernick-citizen-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2017\/11\/17\/kaepernick-citizen-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaepernick: Citizen of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/11\/colin-kaepernick-named-gq-citizen-year-171113194755048.html<\/p>\n

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Colin Kaepernick, an American football player\u00a0who last year\u00a0started protesting police\u00a0brutality against African Americans by\u00a0kneeling<\/a>\u00a0during the US national anthem,\u00a0has been named “Citizen of the Year” by\u00a0GQ<\/span>\u00a0magazine.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0public stand of the\u00a0former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who is currently without a team,\u00a0has sparked a wave of\u00a0similar protests<\/a>\u00a0across the National Football League\u00a0and other athletic events.<\/p>\n

Announcing its decision on Monday,\u00a0GQ<\/span>\u00a0likened Kaepernick to American sports icons, including boxer\u00a0Muhammad Ali<\/a>, who opposed the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

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“He’s been vilified by millions and locked out of the NFL – all because he took a knee to protest police brutality,” the magazine said of Kaepernick’s protest.<\/p>\n

“It cost him his job. It also transformed Colin Kaepernick into a lightning rod and a powerful symbol of activism and resistance.<\/p>\n

“Kaepernick’s determined stand puts him in rare company in sports history: Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson – athletes who risked everything to make a difference,” it said.<\/p>\n

Kaepernick declined to be interviewed by\u00a0GQ<\/span>\u00a0but posed for pictures. He posted a message on Twitter, saying he was “honored’ by the recognition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality that disproportionately targets African Americans started in August 2016, but it quickly spread throughout the league and has continued to inspire athletes to kneel during the national anthem well into the 2017 season.<\/p>\n

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READ MORE<\/div>\n

Khalid Albaih: Why I created Colin Kaepernick cartoon<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

He was initially backed by his team, the San Francisco 49ers, but faced a barrage of abuse and criticism, including comments from then-presidential hopeful\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brushing aside the issue of racism, Trump, the current US president, told\u00a0Kaepernick in August 2016\u00a0to “find a country that works better for him”.<\/p>\n

Responding to the\u00a0GQ<\/span>\u00a0announcement, several famous American sports personalities and social media users voiced their support for Kaepernick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/11\/colin-kaepernick-named-gq-citizen-year-171113194755048.html   Colin Kaepernick, an American football player\u00a0who last year\u00a0started protesting police\u00a0brutality against African Americans by\u00a0kneeling\u00a0during the US national anthem,\u00a0has been named “Citizen of the Year” by\u00a0GQ\u00a0magazine. The\u00a0public stand of the\u00a0former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who is currently without a team,\u00a0has sparked a wave of\u00a0similar protests\u00a0across the National Football League\u00a0and other athletic events. Announcing its decision on Monday,\u00a0GQ\u00a0likened Kaepernick to… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1088,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions\/1088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}