Just days after the U.S. strike on Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, former NFL player and social justice activist Colin Kaepernick criticized the U.S. on Saturday for targeting “Black and Brown people.”
“There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism,” Kaepernick tweeted Saturday.
There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 4, 2020
Kaepernick continued his remarks saying “America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad.”
America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 4, 2020
He said American militarism is the weapon of American imperialism, “to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.”
Kaepernick’s remarks do not bear any specific mention to Soleimani, though his comments did come amid backlash from Democratic politicians and celebrities for President Donald Trump’s decision to order the airstrike that killed Soleimani.
He did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment.
Kaepernick received national media attention, with both support and criticism for his national anthem protests. Kaepernick has struggled to stay with the NFL since the protest, though he did become the face of Nike’s 30th anniversary ‘Just Do it’ ad campaign.
Kaepernick has remained an active social critic since becoming a free agent with the NFL and has continued his Nike partnership. In July, his criticisms led Nike to cancel the release of a July 4th flag-themed shoe.
Soleimani led the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). U.S. officials have considered Soleimani a terrorist and the Trump administration had previously labeled the IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Soleimani was believed responsible for coordinating attacks throughout the Middle East, including ones that have killed or maimed hundreds of U.S. troops.
“If you’ve been to a VA hospital in recent years and seen a young man missing limbs, there’s a reasonable chance Qasem Soleimani is responsible for it,” Jesse Kelly, a U.S. Marine veteran tweeted after Soleimani’s death.
Soleimani was present with members of Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq when he was killed in Baghdad, Iraq.
Those various pro-Iranian militias were believed responsible for rocket attacks that killed one U.S. citizen and injured others in the week before the strike on Soleimani. The militias were also believed responsible for destructive demonstrations at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, in which demonstrators, flying the militia flags, set fires throughout the embassy and damaged guard posts and fortified walls.
