Jerry Jones unable to enjoy latest Cowboys victory after Colin Kaepernick puts him in awkward position
The former 49ers quarterback reopened a decade-old NFL debate during an appearance in Dallas
The Dallas Cowboys had barely moved on from an emotional 34-30 win over the Houston Texans when owner Jerry Jones found himself pulled back into one of the league’s most enduring controversies.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick appeared in Dallas for an author event tied to his memoir, The Perilous Fight, and was asked what he would say now to Jones and others who opposed his protest during the 2016 season.
“It’s the same thing that I’ve said in the past, which is, why are you so comfortable working against black folks trying to live?” Kaepernick said. “People revealed who they were.”
His remarks brought Jones ’ stance from that period back into focus just as Dallas was trying to build momentum on the field.
Issue that changed Kaepernick's career
Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 as a protest against racial injustice and police violence involving black Americans.
“We were fighting specifically against police killing black folks,” he said in Dallas. “It’s amazing to me that there’s anybody that’s like, ‘I’m against that.’”
At the time, Jones was one of the NFL’s most prominent critics of anthem demonstrations.
“There is no question the league is suffering negative effects from these protests,” Jones said in 2017.
He argued that the NFL needed to protect the strength of the league and avoid allowing protests to overshadow football. Kaepernick , however, has always maintained that the issue went beyond the sport itself.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said in 2016. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”
Cowboys win briefly pushed aside
The timing made Kaepernick ’s comments especially awkward for Jones . Dallas had just completed a dramatic comeback victory, with Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb helping the Cowboys secure a result that gave the franchise something positive to build on.
Instead, the public conversation around Jones quickly returned to an issue he had hoped was long behind him.
Kaepernick hasn't played an NFL snap since the 2016 season, but he has remained active in social justice causes and continues to speak about the circumstances surrounding his departure from the league.
“I’ve gotten so many questions about why did I protest, what happened, what led up to it, the details behind the scenes of all of the moments,” Kaepernick told TIME while discussing his memoir.
A decade after his protest began, Kaepernick is still pressing the same questions, and Jones remains one of the most recognizable figures connected to the NFL’s response.
