Super Bowl LV: Colin Kaepernick back in America’s conscience as NFL hopes fade and social activism takes priority

Sociologist Lucia Trimbur says the former 49ers quarterback will join the ranks of Ali, Carlos and Smith as anti-racism icons

Former NFL star ‘on right side of history’, according to Ben & Jerry’s Chris Miller, as mural unveiled in West Tampa

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A Ben and Jerry’s advertisement featuring Colin Kaepernick is put up near Raymond James Stadium ahead of Super Bowl LV. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:09am, 7 Feb 2021Updated: 10:08am, 7 Feb 2021

Another famous quarterback is being honoured in the city of Tampa, Florida as it prepares to host a blockbuster Super Bowl between Tom Brady’s Buccaneers and Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs on Monday morning (Hong Kong time).

A mural of Colin Kaepernick was unveiled in West Tampa on Thursday – part of a collaboration between the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback’s Know Your Rights Camp and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Kaepernick’s social activism ended his career but his legacy is nevertheless fortified, said Lucia Trimbur, associate professor of sociology and American studies at the City University New York, specialising in African-American studies.

She said the sacrifices he made to expose police violence against black people in the US, the death threats he received and his enforced isolation by NFL owners ensure his place among the pantheon of sport’s protest icons such as boxer Muhammad Ali and 1968 Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

“I think he will join the folks from [the Tokyo Olympics in] 1968, Carlos and Smith, for being out in front of the movement and suffering for those political decisions he made,” said Trimbur, author of the book Come Out Swinging: The Changing World of Boxing in Gleason’s Gym about minority youth who take up boxing after leaving prison.

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