• Faith: Christian
• Career: Athlete
• Birthday:  November 03, 1987

Colin Kaepernick was born to a single teenage mother and put up for adoption. He was adopted by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, a couple who already had two children, Kyle and Devon. Kaepernick began playing football as a child and continued through his high school years. Despite desperately wanting to play football, and turning down several baseball scholarships in order to pursue football, University of Nevada was the only school that offered him a football scholarship. Following graduation, Kaepernick was signed by the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick played with the 49ers from 2011 until 2017, when he opted out of his contract to become a free agent.

Kaepernick entered the limelight in 2016 when he began refusing to stand for the national anthem. He claimed that the United States “oppresses black people and people of color...there are bodies in the street and people…getting away with murder.” His protest was deeply divisive. Some saw him as a hero, and other athletes joined in the protest. Other people, however, saw his actions as disrespectful to the military and veterans as well as a misuse of the word “oppression” given that in 2016 the war in Syria was in full swing, and there were no less than five ongoing campaigns worldwide that were considered to have reached the level of organized genocide.