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Kaepernick Items to Be Included in Black Lives Matter Collection at Smithsonian

Colin Kaepernick while playing with the San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images
August 20, 2017

Items related to NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest and his other efforts to call attention to police brutality will be displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History.

The collection will be part of a Black Lives Matter collection, a source told USA Today.

"The National Museum of African American History and Culture has nearly 40,000 items in our collection," Damion Thomas, the Washington museum’s sports curator, said in an email. "The Colin Kaepernick collection is in line with the museum's larger collecting efforts to document the varied areas of society that have been impacted by the Black Lives Matter movement."

Thomas previously said that Kaepernick items to be included are a game-worn jersey, shoes, and a picture donated by sociologist Harry Edwards. He said they would be displayed within "one or two years."

The museum has previously come under criticism for political bias by making only a passing reference to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was appointed by a Republican and is one of the high court's more conservative members.

Kaepernick, who made it to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season with the San Francisco 49ers, has drawn national attention since 2016 for kneeling during the playing of the national anthem and for his outspoken political opinions. He is currently a free agent.

Published under: Black Lives Matter , NFL