Kyle Shanahan believes “white people” have gotten over their “ignorance,” and are now more “passionate” about issues having to do with social justice.
And though he was not the head coach of the 49ers when Colin Kaepernick was in San Francisco, Shanahan believes his method of protest was misunderstood.
The coach of the defending NFC Champions made the statement in an interview with reporters via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“What’s different now, it’s embarrassing to say, probably, but I think white people are more passionate about it now than then,” Shanahan said. “And that’s our ignorance. And that’s what upsets black people, and they have every right to be upset because they haven’t just been telling us this the last few weeks. They’ve been telling us this since our grandparents. And I’ve been hearing it from every one of my friends since I was 14.”
Shanahan believes it’s long overdue for people to acknowledge and understand why Kaepernick was protesting.
“It’s three years later, and [there are] still some people not understanding what his message was,” Shanahan said. “And, regardless, that’s too many people not understanding the message that everyone’s been giving for a long time. And Colin did it the strongest out of anyone, and people should respect him a ton for that and admire that.
“Regardless of whether you agree with how he did it or not, that doesn’t matter. What Colin was protesting was something that should be respected by all humans. That did take a lot of courage. That is something that is 1,000-percent wrong and what he was trying to fix and bring light to.
“And, gosh, it was hard to bring light to the whole country because people didn’t want to totally hear it and it got diluted with so much different stuff.”
Of course, the reason why Kaepernick’s message got diluted is primarily the fault of Colin Kaepernick. By choosing a time for honoring the country and the flag which represents it, for protest. Much of the debate surrounding his campaign centered around whether it was appropriate to protest during the anthem, or whether it was offensive to the military, as opposed to the cause of fighting against police brutality.
“These were the guys who started it and it was very clear when they would articulate it, why they were doing it,” Shanahan said of the protests. “And so the whole debate on all the other stuff, the flag, everything like, people don’t want to hear that. What he was doing was a big deal. Whether you disagree with how he did it or not doesn’t matter.
“And I’m all for protest. I’m all for change. I hope the protest cause change. Whatever we have to do to get the change, I’m for it. I know our organization is. I know Jed is. I know our players are. We always have been.”
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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