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Lindsey Graham slams 'racist' Colin Kaepernick for criticizing Soleimani 'terrorist' hit

Kaepernick, on Saturday, had described the hit on Soleimani as part of a pattern of 'American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people.'

BY NAMRATA TRIPATHI

PUBLISHED JAN 6, 2020

Lindsey Graham, Colin Kaepernick (Getty Images)

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC.) slammed former National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick on Sunday, calling him a "racist" after the activist slammed America's airstrike assassination of Iran's top commander Qassem Soleimani.

Graham, while appearing on 'Sunday Morning Futures' on Fox News, denounced the player, saying: "He’s a loser on and off the field. It’s un-American. He’s a racist. If you’re looking for racism in America, Mr. Kaepernick, look in the mirror."

Kaepernick, in a tweet on Saturday, had described the hit on Soleimani in Baghdad as part of a pattern of “American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, (R-SC)., speaks at a news conference proposing legislation to address the crisis at the southern border at the U.S. Capitol on May 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)

The South Carolina Senator also lashed out at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) after she called President Donald Trump a "monster" for threatening to target at least 52 Iranian cultural sites in military attacks. Targeting cultural sites would violate international agreements on war and would fit the Defense Department's definition of a war crime.

"AOC doesn’t know anything about the law of armed conflict, obviously," Graham said of the Congresswoman during the segment.

Fox News host Megyn Kelly also slammed Kaepernick on Twitter, saying: "Everything is racist. Everything,” she wrote sarcastically. “Even fighting back against terrorists who kill Americans. Nike, feeling proud?”

Kaepernick, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, has not played a single game in the NFL ever since he left the 49ers at the end of the 2016 session, the same year he began his controversial protest of kneeling during the national anthem.

Colin Kaepernick looks to make a pass during a private NFL workout held at Charles R Drew high school on November 16, 2019 in Riverdale, Georgia. Due to disagreements between Kaepernick and the NFL the location of the workout was abruptly changed. (Getty Images)

Kaepernick stirred a national controversy in an effort to protest against reported police brutality against black people 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. Police killed a total of 1,164 people in the United States in 2018, marking an increase from the 1,147 people killed in the country by policemen in 2017, according to MappingPoliceViolence.org.

At least 25 percent of those killed were black people despite them making only 13% of the population. Kaepernick's movement drew heavy criticism from Trump, who even called for the owners of the NFL teams to fire the players who were participating in it.