Colin Kaepernick on Kyle Rittenhouse Verdict: 'White Supremacy Cannot be Reformed'

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick reacted to the outcome of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial after the jury found him not guilty on all counts: 

Rittenhouse was acquitted on five charges—first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety—after shooting and killing Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz during protests for racial justice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020.

Rittenhouse contended in court he shot the men in self-defense.

A number of current and former athletes joined Kaepernick in decrying the jury's verdict:

Rittenhouse, who lives in Illinois and was 17 at the time, traveled across state lines with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle, claiming he was there to help protect businesses during protesting in Kenosha after Jacob Blake was shot by police, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. 

He claimed that Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz had attacked him and he was defending himself. Prosecutors argued that Rittenhouse chose to bring a deadly weapon to the protests, and Grosskreutz said he was trying to disarm Rittenhouse. 

The case and verdict are the latest in a long list of situations that have brought discussions of racial injustice, gun control and the justice system into the national spotlight.

Kaepernick found himself at the center of a divisive issue in 2016 when he kneeled during the national anthem before NFL games in protest of police brutality and racial injustice. He went unsigned after that season, and he and his supporters have argued he was blacklisted by the league's owners for expressing his political beliefs.

He has advocated for racial justice and police and prison abolition and, with his partner Nessa Diab, established the Know Your Rights Camp, an organization that aims to educate young people of color on their rights, health, financial literacy and leadership. The organization also created a legal defense initiative for protesters and a COVID-19 relief fund.