While Colin Kaepernick says he's seen positives emerge from a racial-equality movement sparked by his national-anthem protests, he's also received death threats as a result.
"I've had a few come my way, but not too concerned about it," Kaepernick said Tuesday inside the 49ers locker room.
Asked if those threats have come only through his social-media channels, Kaepernick responded: "Couple different avenues."
Kaepernick said he does not alert team security in the wake of such threats, because, "to me, if something like that were to happen, you've proved my point and it will be loud and clear for everyone why it happened, and that would move this movement forward at a greater speed than what it is even now.
"Granted, it's not how I want it to happen, but that's the realization of what could happen. I knew there were other things that came along with this when I first stood up and spoke about it. It's not something I haven't thought about."
Kaepernick condemned Friday night's fatal shooting of an unarmed Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by a police officer. "This is a perfect example of what this is about," Kaepernick said. "It will be very telling about what happens to the officer that killed him."
One aspect Kaepernick is taking upon himself is following through on a $1 million pledge to support communities, and he said Tuesday he plans to award $100,000 monthly over the next year to programs he's currently reviewing, with those distributions posted on a website he's currently building.
At the 49ers' game Sunday in Charlotte, N.C., Kaepernick received verbal and visible taunts from fans before and at halftime as he left the field in the 49ers' eventual 47-26 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
"It's something they either don't care about it or they don't understand it, which I find it very hard that people don't understand what's going on," Kaepernick said. "I think the message has been out there loud and clear for quite some time now.
"There's a lot of racism disguised as patriotism in this country and people don't like to address that and they don't like to address what the root of this protest is. You have players across this country, not only in the NFL but soccer and NBA and high school players, they don't like to address this issue that people of color are oppressed and treated unjustly. I don't know why that is or what they're scared of, but it needs to be addressed."
