Colin Kaepernick exposes the truth behind his NFL blacklist

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Colin Kaepernick (0:26)

We have people try to send bombs to our house. We got those calls. My lawyer's got those calls from the FBI. I think the NFL is largely unchanged.

Brian Sozzi (0:33)

But you feel like you could still put?

Colin Kaepernick (0:35)

Absolutely. Absolutely. If that call does come, I'm ready.

Brian Sozzi (0:38)

Do you view yourself as a historical figure?

Colin Kaepernick (0:41)

I've not thought about that.

Brian Sozzi (0:45)

Amidst this 10-year window, you've built businesses.

Colin Kaepernick (0:48)

The part that we realize there is your impact on the philanthropic side goes so far. But can I build good businesses that have the impact directly in communities that I want to have?

Brian Sozzi (1:03)

All right. Welcome to a new episode of Power Players. I'm so excited to welcome in my next guest. I certainly watched him on the gridiron, the football field, as Colin Kaepernick, author of the perilous fight new book. Colin, it's good to see you. It feels like I was just watching you play, man. Time flies, right?

Colin Kaepernick (1:19)

It does fly. It's great to be here. Good to see you. Excited for a conversation. Yeah.

Brian Sozzi (1:24)

Likewise. Likewise.

What made you write this now? Everything going on in this world. It's not like you are out there doing a ton of interviews. You've been working on your businesses. You've been head down, focused on your activism. Why did you write this book now?

Colin Kaepernick (1:40)

Yeah. The timing for this, one, spend years in the works. It is a process to be able to write a book and be able to get it out there.

But also we're 10 years from the protest.

We're also in a moment in time within society. I think it's important to be able to have the story and insights out there. And hopefully it helps inform us on how we can move forward collectively, how we build a better society. And some of the insights around some of the tools and things I had to navigate. And hopefully that's useful to other people to allow them to be able to build and move forward.

Brian Sozzi (2:19)

You pulled me right out of my seat within the first five pages of this book. And you talked to me, you talked about being hands tied up by a group of friends. Talk to us about that event, that early part of your life. And how hard was it for you to go back in that period of time?

Colin Kaepernick (2:37)

Yeah, it's never easy going back to traumatic experiences. But having the moment of being out in the neighborhood at approximately eight years old, getting tied to a rose tree by people that I thought were my friends, it shapes you. It defines you in many ways.

And for me, while it was very difficult to navigate, and I didn't think I had anybody I could lean on as part of that, it also became a space that, one, I was like, that's never going to happen again. But two, you build a resilience.

And it's one you ideally don't have to go through. I think as part of it, it's important that you don't just get to a space of, oh man, this happened to me, and you just kind of let that be. But more so, how do you take moments that are extreme obstacles and turn them into opportunities to make sure that you're making yourself better, you're building a resilience, you're building an awareness that ultimately allows you to move forward in a way you otherwise might not have been able to?

Brian Sozzi (3:51)

How do you navigate? And it's not just that situation. That's one of a bunch of different examples you bring up, whether it's eight years old, in high school. How do you, as you look back to do this, how did you get yourself out of those situations? Did you embrace them or how did you just work through it?

Colin Kaepernick (4:09)

It is definitely a learning process.

I mean, part of it is you're learning on the fly. I think this is also where sports was really valuable for me because you build a level of grit and resilience to some of that. And I think also just knowing who you are as a person and what you want to accomplish and where you want to go.