Getty Colin Kaepernick, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers
On September 6th, 2018, a Dallas Police Officer claims she mistakenly entered Botham Shem Jean’s apartment believing it was her own, leading her to shoot and fatally kill Jean in his own home.
The NFL took to Twitter a few days ago to post a tribute/PSA to the former Harding University graduate, Jean, and to shed light on and bring attention to the Botham Jean Foundation. The NFL got its message out there, and as of Saturday evening #EveryonesChild was one of the most trending hashtags worldwide. However, the hashtag wasn’t trending for the reasons that the league likely hoped or expected. The post has not gone over well throughout the internet, as many Twitter users have painted the NFL as hypocrites in response.
The full post can be seen below.
What is #EveryonesChild & Why Are People Outraged?
In the NFL’s post, the league included the hashtag #EveryonesChild, a hashtag that they have continued to promote over the past few days. The hashtag is supposed to bring attention to social injustice.
This effort has largely backfired on the NFL, as social media has shown some serious disdain for the post. A large number of tweets have called out the NFL for the hypocrisy of the post, pointing out that in their minds the NFL blackballed former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his stance on this exact movement.
Bishop and NAACP President Talbert Swan took to Twitter to voice their displeasure with the league’s current stance. Swan states that “the NFL wasn’t in the struggle for justice with us when Kaepernick was taking a knee to protest unjust murders of black people.”
Another Twitter user tweeted a very similar viewpoint that “The NFL is promoting the #EveryonesChild hashtag on Twitter to bring attention to social injustice. Colin Kaepernick took a knee to bring attention to social injustice and has been demonized ever since.”
A simple twitter search using #EveryonesChild will bring you back thousands upon thousands of tweets using the hashtag, most of which carry the same tone and beliefs as the ones mention above.
Colin Kaepernick’s Fight Against Social Injustice
Kaepernick notably began his silent protest of dropping to a knee during the National Anthem back in 2016 as a way to voice his displeasure of the country’s treatment of racial minorities.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick stated following his inaugural knee taken in a preseason game with the 49ers nearly four years ago. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
While the NFL has adamantly stated they did not blackball Kaepernick from the league, the former quarterback, who appeared in a Super Bowl almost seven years ago, has not been employed by the league since 2016.
Kaepernick and the NFL did recently plan a now-infamous workout which the league believed would help open the door for a Kaep-NFL reunion. However, that workout never fully materialized the way both parties portrayed that they hoped it would. Kaepernick’s team states that the league tried to make him sign unusual waivers while also being stubborn about the tryout time and media access. This led to Kaepernick moving his workout to an alternate location last minute. Kaepernick has reportedly not heard from an NFL team since.
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