As we discussed yesterday, football player Colin Kaepernick didn’t vote in last week’s presidential election. It wouldn’t have been a huge story except for the fact that Kaepernick has been in the middle of a national conversation about race, police violence and patriotism for months. Colin has spoken eloquently about the need to address police violence and racial injustice in our country, and he has made a point of not standing for the national anthem ahead of his football games.
The fact that Colin placed himself in the middle of these hot-button political issues and then didn’t even bother to vote seems… stupid. I don’t have any other words for it. Idiotic? Ridiculous? Moronic? It’s just f—king stupid. I understand how people can feel let down by their choices at every level of government, but that’s exactly why more people should be engaged, should be politically active, and should, at the very f—king least, VOTE. Well, guess what? Colin has never voted. He’s never even been registered to vote.
Colin Kaepernick raised eyebrows last week when he revealed that he did not vote in the presidential election amid a football season in which his protest of racial inequality gained national attention. In fact, it would have been problematic if he had. The Sacramento Bee found that the San Francisco 49ers quarterback has never been registered to vote.
Kaepernick, who was raised in Turlock, turned 18 in 2005, but he has not registered to vote in California at any point in the last decade, according to records maintained by the California Secretary of State. He also did not register in Nevada while he attended the University of Nevada, Reno, from 2006 to 2010, according to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters.
That means he missed presidential elections in 2008 and 2012 – when Democrat Barack Obama was elected president – in addition to a variety of state and local elections in other years.
Attempts to reach Kaepnernick were unsuccessful. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Kaepernick said he did not care who won the 2016 election and it would have been “hypocritical of me to vote” for either President-elect Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Yeah, if he’s not willing to do the bare minimum of citizenship and civic duty, then I say we need to just stop paying any attention to anything he’s got to say. This goes for every single person who doesn’t vote yet proclaims to “care” about this issue or that issue. If you care, you vote. If you don’t vote, you’re publicly telling the world that you don’t really give a sh-t about what happens in your city, county, state or country. You’re saying that you think it’s all broken and you’re too cynical to believe anything can ever change.
(The one exception to this whole “don’t speak if you don’t vote” rule is obviously Jehovah’s Witnesses. Witnesses, for the most part, don’t believe in voting as an article of their faith. But Kaepernick is not a Witness. He’s just a guy who wants to be an activist but doesn’t want to participate in democracy.)
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Oh….
well, hmmmm….
thats not good
I’m going to be devil’s advocate here and say that we should respect someone’s choice not to vote, if they feel like the system is corrupt and the candidates are corrupt. (I am black, I do vote and I do understand that people died for me to vote.)
On the other hand, the ballot is about more than just candidates in office. In California, an anti-death penalty proposition was on the ballot. It failed, but someone like Kap, who is concerned about the criminal justice system, could have helped his cause by voting against the death penalty, which has long been tied to racism and inequality. Being in a democracy means having the choice to vote or not. I’m pretty sure another activist I admire, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, doesn’t vote or writes in third-party candidates. Being in a democracy means such people still have a right to complain about our government and our society. Not participating in the system is a way to rebel against it, and I say this as a person who’s routinely voted since turning 18.
Well said. We do have every right to NOT vote, but we could help each other so much more by voting. I wish we could all at least agree on that. By getting involved even in the smallest ways: getting excited about someone running for city counsel or county judge or any issue on the ballot. I’m so devestated by this election result – I’m not a California voter so I didn’t know the death penalty was on the table there. But, that makes me very sad. I’m a former district attorney and find that to be a very hard issue to live with. If someone like Kap could take a knee AND encourage people to vote? That would be awesome and show not only courage, but additional community pride and civic duty. A responsibility I think we all have towards each other? I’m not fighting. I 100% agree with what you wrote, I just wish more people would have voted. I’m really struggling with how to move forward. Because, guys…. this is the best we are going to feel for the next several years. Just wait until he starts appointing judges, passing legislation. We are getting a taste of what his cabinet will look like… I’m sorry, I’m not very articulate today. Still in shock and very worried. This is giving me nightmares: George W Bush started a war based on the thinnist of lies, he passed patriot act to spy on us, wrecked the economy and used Guantanamo bay to circumvent our constitution and criminal process. I cannot think what T-word will do over the next 4 years. If you have a platform in the USA like the NFL, I do wish the players would encourage people BY EXAMPLE to vote. As well as protest and speak out for our rights.
It may interest you all to know that of the 112 people arrested for “protesting”, aka rioting in Portland, only 25 of them actually voted in the election this year. This number was determined by the NBC Portland affiliate by comparing arrest reports to voter records.
If you think your right not to vote legitimizes your destructive and disrespectful behavior after the votes are counted, its going to be a long 4 years for you.
However, he does participate in the society that is supported by the system. He drives on the roads, he breathes the air, he uses the airports (to name just a few things that the government protects or builds or provides).
He’s just a sideshow in this shit storm right now so I won’t waste too much energy in him, though. Bless his heart.
No one says you have to fill in the circle next to the president. But most states and cities have very important questions on the ballots. Ones that will impact you everyday. You need to show up and let your voice be heard sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. For him to sit there and say it would be hypocritical is a huge cop out. And makes me think he doesn’t really get how voting works.
I agree that we should not be attacking this guy for not voting and that not voting can be a form of protest and that this is a nonissue when faced with fighting for all freedoms.
I appreciate being able to read all the responses because I fully know and am aware of the fact that I do not understand everything about this world or this country. My only personal goal is to make life easier for all people in any small way I can so learning about your thoughts on things like this helps everyone. Especially when you all communicate with respect and thoughtfulness, it can be a good way to learn about people you may not come across in your day to day. Its good to share this way.
I am all for everyone’s right to vote or not. My problem is when people complain about things when they didn’t vote. My mother talks about each election non-stop. Complains about injustices. But has not voted in 20+ years. My opinion is, if you don’t vote, don’t complain.
WTW, i think it is good that you tried to understand the other side. However, being part of a democracy actually means voting. It is the definition of democracy. If you don’t vote you are not by definition part of a democracy.
Let’s not confuse our constitution with the definition for democracy.
If you don’t vote you aren’t part of a democracy? That is just silly.
In a comparison of 18 European party systems and researchers found that compulsory voting goes hand in hand with increased numbers of spoiled and invalid ballots — slashing through them, turning them in blank, or writing in a candidate like “Mickey Mouse.” So people who vote for a cartoon character are part of a democracy and superior to those who abstain.
Even though the U.S. ranks 31st out of 35 developed countries in voter turnout, according to a recent Pew Research Center study. However, our low voter turnout does not accurately correlate with our views on politics. As a country we may seem
unenthusiastic when comparing voter turn out rates but we are on par with or surpass other countries in other measures of political involvement and interest. According to Mert Moral, a political scientist at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
“If you look at survey data you find more Americans are equally if not more engaged than their counterparts [in other countries],” he says. “They have bumper stickers, they talk about politics [and] they are interested in political topics at the local level.”
CNN is as of right now that over 126 million people voted for President in this election so it doesn’t seem like a controversial claim to say talking to others about political issues, engaging the system at the local level, along with numerous other ways people get involved do more good and have more sway than being +\- 1 in 126,000,000 votes.
https://www.quora.com/What-happens-if-you-dont-vote-in-a-democracy
Also, America was founded as a republic with the idea that eligible citizens get equal say in decisions with protection of unalienable rights to individuals and sovereignty is held by the people as individuals. It is a representative democracy with restrains placed so that the will of the majority cannot strip minorities of certain rights. That remains the stated type of government. In theory we have a republic in practice however, things are far less clear.
Over the past 40 years we have shifted away from the ideals of our Republic. The views of the majority of Americans is no longer reflected in public policy. Think about certain gun control measures that are supported by an overwhelming majority, the fight to legalize marijuana, and the fact abortion is still up for debate. The will of the people is no longer reflected in the government of the people. The people’s beliefs, concerns, and voices have been replaced by lobbyists, industry, and pay-to-play donors. If our elected representatives no longer represent us why is it so important to vote for them? To make voting mandatory it has to be meaningful. Until the system is reset and the government is willing to honor its end of the bargain and promise to the American people why should we honor out commitments to them as citizens? Also, when the state, through both election policy and denying crucial education about civics (the single most reliable indicator of if you will vote), is the biggest cause of low voter turnout and individual disenfranchisement, why is the blame placed squarely on the shoulders of the voters?
A well explained Princeton study about what type of government we have slowly become:
https://mic.com/articles/87719/princeton-concludes-what-kind-of-government-america-really-has-and-it-s-not-a-democracy#.5e5iWabUd
Lindsay, amazingly put. Refreshingly clean argumentation. And I also agree with everything you said
@Lindsay,
I said the definition of democracy is actually voting. I should have said literally is voting. Please refer to any dictionary. I posted it for you below.
Democracy | Definition of Democracy by Merriam-Webster
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy
democracies. 1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
You are so focused on one element you are missing the big picture. Your definition doesn’t even include the word voting (the closest is ‘usually an election’) Voting is supposed to be a means to an end of self determination by the people. You don’t have to vote but it is the best system we have right now. The right to vote isn’t special on its own. It’s the ideals behind it freedom, liberty, the will of the people and without people holding leaders to those ideals our elections can easily become a farce like the ones other places where the dictator stays in power with 97% of the vote. People in North Korea vote and they call themselves a democracy using voting is literally democracy actually makes that absurd claim true.
I think he made a very brave statement with not saluting the flag to bring attention to the black lives matter movement. I would go easy on this guy and not make him the butt of hateful ridicule. My parents were “hate the system” type of liberals who smoked pot and did nothing politically to improve our lives. I saw that and made an entirely different choice- so to be politically active is my personal “give” and I follow the elections carefully and of course I’ve ALWAYS voted come rain shine or flu. So let’s have an inclusive attitude- I”m sick of the “more liberal than thou” purist judgeyness that split our voting faction. I’d like everyone to vote but let’s promote this with an educational approach rather than demoniziation.
No, we wont go easy on him just because he is on the side where it is “okay” to salute black lives matter by not saluting the flag, sorry. Guys like this, hypocrites, who say one thing, and then don’t even vote are the reason trump won. None of the celebrities, athletes or other famous people helped Hillary ONE bit. People do not relate to them when theyre working 8 hours a day and weekends while supporting a family in a small town and STILL find plenty of time to vote.
Serena Williams didn’t vote, never has,doesn’t believe in it or so her religion she said does not. Her right.
I got into an argument about this with some people. They claimed that if he felt so disenfranchised that he didn’t even want to participate in the system, that’s his right and he shouldn’t he criticized. Oh also because I’m a non-black minority I have no place to talk about it. Those types of people, and that asshat Colin, are part of the problem.
+1
I keep hearing that ( like I listened to this Dominican girl’s podcast and she was Ranting on an on saying GTFOH you are all NOT about to put this on Minorities, she was saying that she refused to be ashamed of not voting if the choices were sh*t and directly about to affect her negatively) and I guess when people are conscientious objectors is a thing.. But I can’t deal with apathy about the voting process, period, im an immigrant my mom paid a sh*tton of money and we sacrificed sooo much to be here and establish ourselves and in my country the voting process is a sham currently, we left as a dictator was effectively coming into power so to me this is nearly unforgivably bad… On the other hand I read of his Camp project and I mean He IS getting involved in his community in a big way http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-kaepernick-camp-cements-status-black-community-article-1.2850326 and that is soooo admirable.. I just don’t know what to even do with that whole ” well i don’t like my choices so no choice is good!
Glad he’s helping the community, but I can’t get past the not voting thing. Black Americans (not to mention so many other all over the world) died to have the right to vote. It’s not something to turn your nose up at. You can’t complain if you don’t participate. The kids he’s helping are our next generation of politicians/judges/lawyers/doctors/attorney or surgeon generals…what’s he gonna do, encourage them and not vote for them when they succeed? Come on now….he didn’t think that all the way through.
To me, there are two issues. First, I don’t believe that him not voting means none of his opinions or views are valid or shouldn’t count. But it is hard to take a man seriously who is so invested in the issues the black community – his community – faces but couldn’t bring himself to vote for the first black president? I don’t understand that at all. Were Obama’s plans for the country to objectionable? In any case, it’s not the smartest move to put yourself out there as the face of a protest and then it turns out you can’t even be bothered to participate in the process at all. Whatever his reasons, it just looks crappy.
Second, people who don’t vote … I can’t. There might be reasons, sure. But not doing something won’t change a thing. In my experience, people who don’t vote aren’t all that active politically so their conscientiously objecting thing doesn’t have much of an effect unless you follow up. Goddamn it. I’m not in the mood for this bs.
I don’t want the fact that he doesn’t vote to take away from all the good he is doing…but come on, man! It’s possibly the easiest way any of us can affect change, and how can you expect to be taken seriously when you don’t vote? And it’s super easy to apply for an absentee ballot if that’s what you want to do. How can you look at those kids at camp and say “I’m one of the people who let Donald Trump happen? Good luck out there!”
Oh i’m with you guys, this is just disappointing and obtuse AF ( I come from a long proud line of busybodies and opinionated women and as such I vote in every damned thing, dog catcher, school board, best flavor lays.. you name it! so i can’t even understand that mentality)
QQ it’s hard for me to understand voting apathy- but liberals are so split now. We need to behave in a really careful inclusive way and bring them to Jesus so to speak. Like- lead the bunnies to the safe cozy Nell of voting because they scare off easily into protest voting or not voting. Next election we need strength in numbers- so I’m going to tread real careful.
I just don’t understand the self-righteousness of these people who don’t vote. They don’t want to participate in our democracy, but they want to complain about how crooked the system is. They’re just trying to disguise their laziness as some kind of principled stance and I don’t have anymore time for it.
I could maybe get behind a conscientious objector but even that logic doesn’t make sense. We get the chance to overthrow a portion of our government peacefully every two years. Failing to vote is failing to affect any change. Being involved in every level of government from the local school board to the president is how you fix what is broken. Voting is a neglected privilege here. Most of us have always had the right to vote, and it’s easy to forget just how vital it is. Nothing will ever change if we all sit back and expect that someone else will shoe up
I don’t want to scapegoat this guy, but… Wow?
Yeah, it’s definitely a let-down. I still support his sitting out the national anthem and his reasoning behind it, but not caring about whether or not Trump got elected weakens his message. Now that it’s coming out that he’s never registered to vote within the past 11 years that he’s been able to, it makes you wonder a little bit how much of his not-voting is really motivated by some kind of political stance and how much of it is just apathy.
So basically he doesn’t give a shit about politics and never has. Why not just say that then instead of the “both candidates are evil” nonsense?
Because maybe he thinks both candidates are evil? A lot of people did.
Both of the candidates were capitalists, so by definition they were always going to put the interests of corporations before the interests the working class and welfare dependent.
…..except he’s never voted and he’s not even registered to vote so maybe just say that? So he thinks every politician is evil?
I feel like we have a civic duty to our fellow Americans to vote. This election was so very important & to not vote is selfish & irresponsible.
Where i live we have a saying :
“He is preaching water for everyone and drinks wine himself ”
He is a self important jerk, not for not voting now, about half the Voters seems not to have voted, but for not even be registerd.
How can a person that is able to vote, but not willing to do even the first step to The Basic Democratic Right of Voting, even see himself as anything helpful for Civil Rights?
Black people have been voting, most feel like its their civic right because our ancestors were murdered and what have you. What has that done for that black community? Colin is doing exactly what we should be doing, which is lead our community by example and by speaking out. Where were all the Asians, Arabs, and Native Americans, I’m sure we don’t pay attention to their vote or the fact they systematically do not involve themselves in politics as minorities. All you people calling him out fail to realize that if you feel ostracized by a political party, it is your choice to NOT SUPPORT THEM.
I critize that he is not even registerd.
May he vote, may he not, but as an able to be registerd and allowed to be registerd man of a minority, a held down minority , a minority were a lot of men are not allowed to vote because of a criminal record, no matter from how long ago, no matter how minor the reason for that criminal record, HE IS F###ING
Stupid.
How many POC would love to vote and Can’t.
NEVER.
He is not even registerd and he could have been long time ago.
If he vote or not.
Others will never be even allowed.
You are saying voting doesn’t change anything for POC.
Does NOT voting change anything?
Then there is not even hope anymore for Democracy!
Kap lives in California and there were many other issues he could have weighed in on other than Clinton or Trump. There were many propositions, measures, and state and local offices (many non partisan) to be decided. The voter guide this election was huge and took me hours to read. Californians had the chance to repeal the death penalty. That measure didn’t pass because people like Kap didn’t vote to repeal it.
Sitting out in a democracy only hastens its demise. The fact that Colin has not bothered to participate in politics at either the local or national level ever speaks to just how far his activism goes. He may have a good message and he may do some outstanding charity work, but he is only one athlete compared to the sprawling power of the American government. If you haven’t noticed, those guys make and repeal laws like, as Decapoda pointed out, the death penalty. It’s literally life and death to vote.
There is no such thing as a perfect party, there are only parties that can be lobbied. Obama didn’t support gay marriage as part of his platform either, but if the LGBTQ+ community didn’t bother voting because they felt ostracized, there is not a chance in hell a red government would have legalized marriage. Non-participation is not the same as dissent.
Also, your use of othering language in your attempt to blame other minorities for Trump is not appreciated. Asians, Arabs and Native Americans are the ‘they’ to your ‘we’. How’s that for being ostracized? Never mind the fact that those groups have been historically fragmented as parts of mass diaspora and thus lack the organizing apparatus of black activism in America. That’s a different conversation, but maybe your own activism should also be more inclusive.
I agree LucyLu. People are are putting this at the feet of minorities. The media likes to create division and create lies on the harsh reality that these elections are won by the majority demographic. Minorities voted in the same margins they do every election, 93% of the African American community voted. Black Americans have been participating in this system through voting for years and yet systematic racism and poverty still exist and hurt us. Politicians only come to our community every 4 years. Yet when a minority chooses not to vote, the majority places part of the blame on us. That’s an illogical argument. There are other ways to actively cause change in your community. Voting is not a requirement nor is it the best avenue for Black Americans. There are other minority groups who do not turn out at the polls at all, yet this level of vitriol is not directed their way.
And while I am befuddled with never voting. The exposure to the problems of unequality, privilege, denying human rights etc. shouldn’t be aligned with politics but alas seemingly basic humanity is all political. His stance she’d a lot of light and exposure on real problems.
Unfortunately, voting is tied to the solutions.
I get that this election was an excpetion because of the orange fascist, but sonetimes there really isn’t anyone to vote for. Especially in a two party system.
If you guys watch ESPN, Stephen A Smith said it best: Colin is a hypocrite and as far as he is concerned completely irrelevant.
I feel the same way.
I thought all along he was just an attention whore & now this proves it to me. Looks like he stands for nothing or no one but himself.
I don’t get it. We had a candidate who was actively racist on the campaign trail and courting racists and bigots for support. If he is (rightfully) concerned about the things he claims he is, VOTE AGAINST THE RACIST RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.
THIS.
I’ll also add that I can’t believe he didn’t bother to vote for Obama. What the actual f$%k.
Yeah wth? Was Obama not worth voting for either?
Was he speaking out when Obama was running, people learn people grow, they don’t have to do what we expect and we should be grateful that he is bringing to light an issue that politics has only exacerbated. Neither party deserved his vote and he exercised his right to not vote. Get over it.
@ LucyLu: We don’t have to be grateful for anything. All the “awareness” in the world doesn’t mean jack if it doesn’t bring about meaningful change at some point.
In other words, he talked the talk, but couldn’t walk the walk. He got his glory in the spotlight, but he’s not willing to do the real work of change. Which is often private and hard and takes a long, long time and doesn’t come with showers of accolades. He’s a hypocrite, plain and simple. Boy, bye.
Ah, the apathy of the rich. What an hypocrite. I guess he’s trying to bring awareness of oppression by putting himself in the spotlight, not by doing anything that might actually help anyone else. Complaining about a problem and then allowing it to worsen by inaction is truly pathetic The issues he’s protesting are very much affected by the politicians that we elect It’s going to get even worse than it already is, with a white supremacist as head policy maker.
utterly ridiculous. the apathy of large swathes of the american public about who takes public office is what is responsible for trump-not hillary’s lack of charisma or even the white nationalists who came out of their caves to cast their vote for trump-the ones who sat this one out: white and black and brown alike. as I have ranted about in other posts, americans are insanely lazy about exercising their civic duty in a democracy and voting because they are waiting for the spirit to move them and waiting for a messiah figure (like obama or even bernie) to move them to the ballot box. If someone isn’t their soul mate candidate, they can’t be bothered. And this is NO way to keep our republic strong. because you never know when you sit out a match which unlikely or insane competitor will win. there’s no way you can tell me we are the same off as country whether it was hillary in office or Trump. There are fundamental differences and any one of them should have motivated this ninny with a national platform just because of his athletic ability (he isn’t that nuanced of a thinker) to go cast his vote. it was a clear choice and people are just lazy and cant be bothered to get off snap chat and FB to go vote.
Yes, it’s messed up. You shouldn’t bitch if you don’t even vote.
Jeesus, what a self-important hypocrite. Well, Colin, you get what you pay for.
Is the secret Kardashian son? The man is looking for some press big time. Didn’t this simpleton know with all the attention he was garnering, it wouldn’t come out he didn’t even flipping register. Move on from this jerk….next. I reiterate yesterday’s comment….do do do do ta do do…….if I only had a brain…..
I support and continue to support his right to freedom of speech;however I get frustrated when people do not understand the importance of being involved. You can’t evoke change if you don’t vote. It’s important to be involved on the local and national level.
I assumed he meant he didn’t vote bc California is overwhelmingly democrat and all the electoral college points go to the majority… So Cali hasn’t gone republican since the 80’s and isn’t a swing state… So he didn’t “have” to vote to ensure the state went to Hilary.
Perhaps I’m giving him too much credit.
Ah here, this is what I mean:
http://www.270towin.com/states/California
Not voting is a slap in the face of Democracy. Excercise your rights! Don’t spend the next 4 years complaining when you couldn’t do the bare minimum.
I have no time for people who do not vote.
ETA: I don’t want to be rude but if people had actually CARED about their civic duty then the US wouldn’t be about to subject herself and the rest of the world with a person like Donald Trump as President.
But what if there really isn’t anyone to vote for? I’m not talking about this election, but in general.
The way the world is going I’m surprised people are not more cynical.
Locke Lamora unless there is an effing dictatorship there is ALWAYS someone to vote for. They might not be the best but generally one is always worse than the other.
Also he didn’t even vote at the lower levels. Now the Republicans own all branches of the Republic.
There’s something we call “voto castigo” where I’m from (“vote of punishment”) and that’s what this man should have done against Trump who will most definitely spit on minorities and the vulnerable.
Change starts on the local level so for him to not even vote all these years for his city and county is just stupid. You want to change to come to the black community, you need to vote for the black community’s interest. Respect lost.
I will preface this by saying I have voted in every election for the past 14 years that I’ve been eligible and that includes midterms. There were times when I didn’t even know what I was voting for and I still voted to the best of what I could make of it. How many of us vote and have no clue who the candidates are for smaller city positions? It would be dishonest to say you have been well informed for every issue you’ve casted a ballot for. With that said, I believe we should participate to keep democracy going.
However, the act of voting does nothing to curb daily racism and prejudice faced by black Americans. It does not matter whether Barack Obama is in office, Donald Trump, or Mickey Mouse. You will still be followed in stores while black and you will be pulled over and more likely to suffer police brutality while black. His lack of involvement with voting has zero to do with those issues because voting does not solve those issues. My mother is 61. She is who taught me to vote in every election. She has been called the N word in 2016, at work. These two issues have nothing to do with one another.
Im so sorry for your mother. I mostly agree with you, but I think voting in the correct people does in fact mean more progress towards eliminating systemic racism from our country. Meaning: the legal ability for institutions to discriminate against people of color or privilege white people at the expense of other ethnicities. I do think that over time, with eliminating institutionalized and state-sanctioned racism, that you begin to see the evolution of reduced racism among the general populace. but I agree with you that identity politics is a mostly intractable thing and prejudices are entrenched.
That has been my issue with a lot of these activists, most especially the black ones as I am a black woman and they are who I look into. They were actively encouraging people not to vote, telling them it’s pointless and that they were stupid, sheep etc. because the system is corrupt and they want no part of it and feel like their ancestors and those in the civil rights movement died to give them the option to opt out of voting. I questioned one on how exactly he expected change to occur and help fix a broken system when he wasn’t involved in any way. Yes call out injustices, but if you aren’t voting or helping people with ideas on the bottom levels then you aren’t helping anything either and it’s doing no one any good. Of course he deleted my comment. Change isn’t going to occur from sitting out and criticizing from the sidelines, leaders don’t appear out of thin air you have to be involved.
So basically he’s just lazy. When and only when he could get attention for himself(and perhaps distract from his terrible playing), did he finally decide to get involved. Shallow and self serving
I get not voting for hills or the trumpter, but local measures are important and that defeats the change he thinks he’s participating in.
His voting doesn’t take away from his narrative. He feels this country has let down his fellow citizens. This unjust American justice system that has let down minority’s for hundreds of years and being a minority with two candidates who care nothing for you. Does that mean I should shut up and be quite because I picked neither of the two. The right to protest is his right and it is also his right not vote. What’s not right is to tell him to be quite about the unfairness of others and it’s not hypocritical to protest and not vote. I voted begrudently for her not because I wanted her but because I dispise him. And what good did my vote do? Not that this will stop me from voting but it will make it harder the next time.
onemoretime: if there were just one out of 100 people who did what you did, we would not have ended up with trump.
thank you for voting begrudgingly.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/voter-turnout-fell-especially-in-states-that-clinton-won/
and even more insane:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-a-difference-2-percentage-points-makes/
Yes let’s stop paying attention to him altogether.
So in this election he objects to the candidates but what’s his excuse for not even registering when he could have voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012? What about local elections? Seriously?
You’re a member of democracy by simply living in a democratic republic. It’s dangerous to reduce democracy to such a procedural thing – to the mere act of voting every 4 years. His protest made worldwide headlines and from what I’m reading here he has done plenty to help his community. I think that makes him a much more productive member of democracy than most voters.
Don’t glorify voting so much. There’s lots of people who watch Fox News ocassionally to inform themselves and have absolutely no idea of how the country they live in actually works, and they go on and vote. And they get fascists elected to be president.
I always vote, and I do consider it a civic responsibility everyone should do. But I think it’s dangerous to exclude non-voters like that and treat them like they don’t belong to democracy or that their opinion isn’t valid.
I do think he sounds hypocritical, though. But this glorification of the voting system also plays a part in putting corrupt people on the government. People, uneducated people in particular, are very easy to manipulate.
opting out of the way our democracy functions (by voting) opened the door for trump. So I do think he has no valid opinions at this point. What privilege he has to just sit this one out from his top-earning perch in california, when his own ancestors used to be disenfranchised completely, and then counted for 3/5 of a vote.
Steve Bannon loves reading comments like this one.
And a democratic society or country can change into a faux democracy (Venezuela) or a full on dictatorship.
Voting is the only democratic tool we have to enact change. By sitting out Trump got elected. I say good luck to us all.
Not only that but truly being active in your community does a lot more good. It’s bizarre that we place so much emphasis on the act of voting, an act that has largely been proven to be a charade of real action. There are people who vote in an election as their only civic duty. They do not truly involve themselves in the community or in the issues. They are not giving and supporting the community, simply living, yet somehow voting makes them feel superior to someone who exercises their right not to vote. That’s not looking critically at what’s wrong with the system. Black Americans have been supporting democrats for over 40 years, there are a lot of Democrats in that time that did not actively improve or effectively help the black community. Therefore, what did voting do? What’s the alternative? Vote Republicans who you know won’t even pretend to care. That’s ridiculous. Instead, we should take this as an opportunity to give back to our communities through service. Kaep is giving back through funds and service yet here we are criticizing him. Silly.
This loser needs to have several seats.
42.3% of people eligable to vote didn’t.
This us why there will never be true unity in the Democratic Party, as long as people are determined to erase Colin’s efforts in calling out social and political injustice through his silent protest and non-voting. His platform is still valid, even if his actions aren’t perfect.
This is exactly the type of hypocrisy and division that Colin is calling out in his protests; supposedly “liberal” people demonizing him for exercising his very right to protest and his right to not vote instead of listening to his message and showing him more understanding.
Showing POC and other marginalized or overlooked groups more compassion for their reasons for why they’ve chosen to historically recuse themselves from the polls is a good step in healing the racial divisions in the Democratic Party. Examining other reasons for low voter turnout (e.g., voter suppression in areas heavily populated by minorities, schedule conflicts, no guaranteed time off from work to vote, felon disenfranchisement) and working to remove these barriers instead of using marginalized groups as a convenient scapegoat is another good step.
Racial injustice in political and social realms remains a huge issue in America and the simple act of voting is not going to correct it alone. As a POC, I’ve always known this even though I still choose to vote and have done so regularly since I was 18. There are more ways to make your voice heard which is what Colin is choosing to do. Him not voting doesn’t make his message any less important.
There is no true unity anywhere, not inside any political party and certain not intra-party. But those who do not vote vacate the space to let others decide for them.
I think Keli Goff put it best:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/11/colin-kaepernick-didn-t-vote-don-t-complain.html
It’s hard for me to get jazzed about voting because of the way votes are counted (or rather the way they aren’t counted) in this country. The electoral college is a fucking joke, only not remotely funny. I may as well actually wipe my ass with my ballot.