Dave Zirin, Jim Brown

With Colin Kaepernick’s emergence as a folk hero of the Black Lives Matter movement and President Donald Trump’s ongoing condemnation of players who have joined that initiative, the role of the National Football League (NFL) in the nation’s political scene has never seemed more volatile. But Kaepernick’s status alone suggests how layered the politics of this moment are. While the former quarterback has sued the league owners for colluding to keep him—and his politics—off the field, his own visibility is likewise a reflection of corporate power, as his recent decision to promote Nike athletic equipment indicates. Moreover, though Kaepernick has not spoken out as political figures often do, his canny use of Twitter and other social media platforms highlights how much his success depends on twenty-first-century public relations channels. If Black Lives Matter is a grassroots political movement that began on the streets, it is now a ubiquitous, transnational phenomenon aimed at eradicating institutional racism across the globe. Kaepernick’s understanding of these dynamics and his success in advancing his cause, which is so obviously not his alone, suggest how inadequate traditional political markers are for illuminating the contemporary cultural landscape. Although it would be a mistake to ignore party politics in this context—after all, Trump is a Republican—the current focus on race, gender, and power both transcends and incorporates bipartisan differences. The politics here are of the small p variety, yet all the more consequential because of that fact.

Context (archaeology) · Football · Grassroots · League · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · History · Law · Sports, Gender, and Society