10 years after Kaepernick took a knee, what have we learned?
Screenshot from Behind the Shield: The Power & Politics of the NFL, featuring Dave Zirin.
TEN YEARS AGO, COLIN KAEPERNICK TOOK A KNEE
As a new NFL season begins, Behind the Shield: The Power & Politics of the NFL gives educators a timely way to revisit one of the most consequential acts of athlete protest in modern American history — and the cultural and political forces it exposed.
As a new NFL season begins, Behind the Shield: The Power & Politics of the NFL gives educators a timely way to revisit one of the most consequential acts of athlete protest in modern American history — and the cultural and political forces it exposed.
Ten years ago this month, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence against Black Americans.
While the gesture was quiet, it set off a full-scale political and cultural firestorm that exposed deep fault lines in American attitudes toward race, patriotism, militarism, and dissent.
Kaepernick’s protest quickly spread across the NFL and the wider sports world, igniting a fierce backlash that presidential candidate Donald Trump helped turn into a national culture-war flashpoint. Then, four years later, facing tremendous commercial pressure after George Floyd’s murder triggered a massive racial reckoning, the NFL abruptly reversed course, moving to protect its brand by adopting the very anti-racist messaging it had once treated as a threat.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick never played another NFL game, fueling widespread speculation that he had been effectively blackballed by the league.
This extraordinary history — and the NFL’s emergence as a multibillion-dollar media empire that wields enormous cultural influence — are at the heart of our film Behind the Shield: The Power & Politics of the NFL, featuring acclaimed Nation journalist Dave Zirin.
To watch a clip from the film showing the fierce backlash Kaepernick faced 10 years ago this month, click here.
In Behind the Shield, Zirin links the Kaepernick story to larger issues of race, patriotism, and dissent. Digging deep into NFL history, he examines how a league that routinely celebrates militarism and nationalism has come to define some forms of political expression as patriotic and others as unacceptable; how the league’s initial treatment of protesting players fit within its long history of systemic racism; and how powerful institutions can co-opt the language and imagery of protest and dissent in ways that strip them of their political meaning.
Behind the Shield also widens its lens to examine the NFL’s relationship to masculinity and gender politics, militarism and war, corporate and oligarchic power, and a long tradition of athletes who have used the extraordinary visibility of American sports to challenge injustice.
The result is less a film about football than a case study in media power, corporate dominance, political dissent, and the contested meaning of patriotism in American life.
Behind the Shield is available in multiple formats on our new streaming platform.
It’s also available as part of the MEF Premium Collection, which includes most of our titles and offers flexible subscription and permanent-access licensing options. To learn more about the Premium Collection, contact Stephen Belcourt at [email protected].
“Behind the Shield is about so much more than football – it is about us and where we are as a nation and what lies ahead. If you love football, watch this film. If you care about justice, watch this film!”
— Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Head of African American Studies at Princeton University
“Behind the Shield is terrifying and brilliant. After watching it, I now believe that you cannot understand this country without understanding NFL football. I will be showing this film in my classes FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.”
— Robin D.G. Kelley, Professor and Chair of History, UCLA
“Behind the Shield convincingly demonstrates that football is indeed the most American sport, then deftly deconstructs just what that Americanness implies.”
— Melissa Harris-Perry, The Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University
“Dave Zirin is one of the foremost thought leaders on the intersection between sports, race, and politics. In Behind the Shield, his thoughtful critiques of the most powerful brand in sports are both necessary and patriotic.”
— Jemele Hill | Sports Journalist, Contributing Writer, The Atlantic
“You may not care about football—but [this] riveting documentary reminds us that we have a stake in understanding how powerful the NFL is in shaping our country, culture, and politics. A must-watch.”
— Katrina vanden Heuvel | Editorial Director & Publisher, The Nation
