Colin Kaepernick’s protests against the national anthem may not be winning him many friends among patriotic Americans, but he has managed to guilt the San Francisco 49ers into a major donation to social justice causes.
The San Francisco 49ers CEO, Jed York, announced that the team is pledging more than $1 million to Bay Area community organizations working to “to end racial and economic disparities.” He says that Kaepernick has inspired him to want to “bridge the gap” between San Francisco’s haves and have nots—a tough feat, considering that even white-collar tech employees in San Francisco are unable to afford the posh city’s sky-high rents.
The money will go to the Silicon Valley Community Federation and the San Francisco Foundation. York did say that he hopes some of the money will be used to help law enforcement build better and more effective relationships with the communities that they police, noting that Kaepernick has directly (and, he feels, perhaps wrongfully) targeted police officers in his protests.
“We want to make sure that law enforcement—who are the front line on a lot of these issues, and probably not fairly so—are put in a position to figure out how we can work with the communities to help tie all of that together to help make our communities a better place,” York told ESPN.
York also said he hopes the donation will take the spotlight off Kaepernick’s protest and shine it, instead, on the issues Kaepernick wants to see addressed. Given that some sports journalists have argued that Kaepernick used the protests to raise his profile within the league, that’s probably unlikely. It’s also unlikely to stop him from sitting during the national anthem.
The 49ers, of course, aren’t alone in using Kaepernick’s crusade as a way to address issues in their home communities—and not necessarily in a social justice-y way. Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy gave $100,000 to the Green Bay Police Foundation this week. The Seattle Seahawks say they are planning a “demonstration of unity” during their game on September 11.