Colin Kaepernick Gave Away His Suits to Parolees
Professional athletes reportedly spend thousands of dollars each year on custom made suits, many of which get worn a couple times and then end up hanging, unused in large walk-in closets. Colin Kaepernick just gave that frivolous spending habit a real and charitable purpose. While the NFL spent it’s weekend drafting college kids for tens of millions of dollars and celebrities at the Met Gala paraded ‘priceless’ couture gowns, Kaepernick used his Sunday to go to the New York State Parole Office and give away his suits to guys who could really use them.
You can make jokes about how no NFL team has signed Kaepernick yet this year, you can call him unpatriotic for kneeling during the national anthem. What you can’t do is deny the amount of time and money he has given to needy causes. On Sunday he literally gave the clothes of his back and that’s just the tip of iceberg:
Kaepernick’s Million Dollar Pledge: “I will donate one million dollars plus all the proceeds of my jersey sales from the 2016 season to organizations working in oppressed communities, 100k a month for 10 months.” – Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick handing out suits in front of a NYC Parole office?? pic.twitter.com/2IABTLTwHL
— Crystal Johnson (@Crystal1Johnson) May 1, 2017
An Instagram post by Kaepernick’s “Know Your Rights Camp” campaign says the suits will make parolees “better equipped to achieve gainful employment” and “live more productive lives.” The charity Kap worked with is 100 Suits For 100 Men, a NYC based company that provides free outfits, haircuts and life skills to men who have been incarcerated at least 5 years.
Kevin Livingston of 100 Suits For 100 Men talks about the program and what Kap’s contribution means:
Kaepernick has been busy in the last year, in March he helped get an airplane to fly food and water to help the people of Somalia. He backed a GoFundMe page to purchase water, food, and other supplies to send. (The page surpassed its $2 million goal in just four days.) Not long after making the donation, Donald Trump criticized Kaepernick, saying that teams wouldn’t sign him because they “don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump.” In response Kaepernick donated $50,000 to Meals on Wheels, a program the Trump administration cut funding to, a program that provides meals to needy senior citizens.
Eric Reid #35 and Colin Kaepernick #7 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel on the sideline during the anthem (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Whatever you may think about Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in order to bring attention to police brutality, the Black Lives Matter movement, and oppressed communities everywhere, you cannot deny that he’s done more, for more people in the last year than 99% of athletes. Maybe there’s a greater message here.
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