Colin Kaepernick spends 32nd birthday feeding the homeless in Oakland: 'He physically handed out backpacks filled with food and socks'
Former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick celebrated his 32nd birthday feeding the homeless in Oakland, California. The player brought out a food truck for the people living in Oakland's Tent City, a large homeless encampment, and paid for every person who wanted a meal, according to TMZ.
Kaepernick made an appearance at the encampment on Sunday along with his girlfriend and reportedly walked around the area handing out backpacks filled with snacks, socks, air quality masks, shampoo, and other essential resources. He made the move in partnership with his foundation called Know Your Rights Camp.
This is not the first time the player has used his birthdays to give back to the community in the past. Kapernick, in 2016, had hosted the first Know Your Rights Camp event, where he brought dozens of Latin and Black kids together to teach them about social injustice and their rights.
The football star, who hasn't played in the NFL for quite some time, had expressed an active interest in pursuing recently opened vacancies with multiple NFL teams hunting for game-changing quarterbacks in the wake of injuries to their existing players.
Kaepernick hasn’t played a down since opting out of his contract in 2016, the same year the quarterback began his protest when he was with the San Francisco 49ers at the time. The player stirred a national controversy in an effort to protest rampant police brutality in the country. Other players soon took his cue and joined the protest in the 2016 season, while many others have continued the protest till now.
Kaepernick's movement drew heavy criticism from President Donald Trump, who even called for the owners of the NFL teams to fire the players who were participating in it. The NFL, last year, had announced a rule which required all the players to stand during the national anthem. The association, however, gave an option to the players to stand off the field until the ceremony was over instead of kneeling outside.
The player, however, has continued to keep in shape, in hope that a franchise will sign him and he'll get to play again.