OPINION:
Well, the circle is complete, as they say.
Colin Kaepernick, football player turned activist, has moved from wearing pig police socks and kneeling during the national anthem to outright calling for the release of cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal from prison.
It had to happen. This day had to come.
For an attention-seeking activist, the worst scenario is to lose the limelight. It means the death of influence.
So Kaepernick — who’s already run the course on calling for police reform, who’s already spent his media capital on aligning with Black Lives Matter and crying racism when NFL teams, surprise, surprise, failed to rush to extend lucrative offers — Kaepernick had to ratchet the cries. He had to find a new rally call. He had to grab a hold of a new campaign.
From police reform to “let my cop-killing people go” — it’s the predictable next step.
“We’re in the midst of a movement that says ’Black Lives Matter,’” Kaepernick said in a video that was posted by CBS News. “And if that’s truly the case, then it means that Mumia’s life and legacy must matter. And the causes that he sacrificed his life and freedom for must matter as well.”
Life and legacy?
Abu-Jamal was convicted of the first-degree shooting murder of a police officer, and sentenced to death — but then, mercifully, later granted life in prison. His life and legacy is as a cop killer.
“The ignorance of Kaepernick is a disgrace,” one Facebook poster wrote, as noted by Newsmax.
And on that note, Kaepernick’s radicalization is complete.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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