Review: COLIN KAEPERNICK CHANGE THE GAME: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR

Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49er's quarterback, decided to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem before a game in 2016, in protest for the way Blacks were treated in this country. As a result of this protest his contract was not renewed and he was blacklisted so no other teams would pick him up.

Before he became a football star, before he made his personal protest about the bad treatment of Blacks, before he was blacklisted, Colin was a high school student and athlete living with his family in Turlock, California. He was a three-sport athlete- football, basketball, and baseball- and everyone thought he would go pro as a baseball pitcher. Colin wasn't excited about baseball because, as MLB player Adam Jones said, "Baseball is a white man's sport." He didn't see himself the way others did. He wanted to play college football at Division 1 level. But he wasn't getting any offers to play football.

His white parents didn't seem to understand Colin and his resistance to playing baseball. They also didn't seem to understand what it was like for their son to be a Black man living in a predominately white community.

This touching graphic memoir explores how a young change-maker learned to find himself, make his own way, and to never compromise.

Since being blacklisted from NFL football, Colin has kept himself busy finding ways to help empower black and brown communities through education, self-empowerment, and mass-mobilization. In April 2022 he hosted a Know Your Rights Camp for youth in Las Vegas. He asked campers to share how they aspire to change the game. Their responses, recorded at the end of the book are very inspiring.

-Anne