Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick on Saturday came to the defense of Iran in the aftermath of the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, decrying "American terrorist attacks."
Kaepernick, a Nike brand ambassador and frequent critic of the United States, took to Twitter to express his opposition to the Trump administration's decision to kill Soleimani, accusing the United States of targeting minorities "at home and abroad."
There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 4, 2020
"America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad," Kaepernick tweeted. "America [sic] militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world."
America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 4, 2020
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday defended the drone strike that killed Soleimani, saying that it disrupted an "imminent attack" on U.S. diplomats and service members in the Middle East. The State Department also said Soleimani was responsible for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American contractor, as well as last week's assault on the U.S. embassy in Iraq.
Soleimani led the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps which trained, funded, and armed Iran-sympathetic terrorist groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and around the Middle East, killing thousands, including hundreds of Americans.
Kaepernick's tweets are only his most recent courting of controversy. The former NFL quarterback first attracted criticism for kneeling during the National Anthem before games to protest the American criminal justice system. Last summer, he successfully lobbied Nike to stop selling a shoe decorated with the Betsy Ross flag, claiming the flag was racist.