Kelly Stafford took to Instagram to admit she was wrong. She explained that she and her husband, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, have had deep discussions about current events, and she wanted to express her apologies for criticizing Colin Kaepernick’s silent protests of kneeling during the national anthem.
Kaepernick, an activist and former NFL quarterback, decided to advocate for social justice, but his methodology — kneeling during the national anthem — grew controversial when some, like Kelly Stafford, at first interpreted the gesture as an affront to the military. As the conversation about systemic racism has captured the nation’s attention following the death of George Floyd, it sounds like she has found a greater understanding of Kaepernick’s message: a demand for basic human rights for black people.
“When Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings about it,” she wrote on Saturday. “Even when he kept saying it had nothing to do with the flag or military, I didn’t listen. I kept not listening to him or anyone else and let the political rhetoric persuade me that him kneeling was disrespectful to our military.
“Over the past several months, I have opened my ears, mind, and heart and it has opened my eyes to see how wrong I was and for that I am sorry. … This systematic racism is not going away unless we ALL work on it by working on ourselves and those around us.”
As a gesture to support Kaepernick’s cause, Matthew and Kelly decided to endow the University of Georgia, their alma mater, with a social justice program.
