Colin Kaepernick Defends Fidel Castro to Miami Reporter

The football player got into a heated argument with a reporter and criticized mass incarceration and genocide of Native Americans.

Colin Kaepernick, the football player who refused to stand during the playing of the U.S. national anthem to protest racism in his country, defended the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro during an interview Wednesday with a Miami-based reporter.

Kaepernick praised the education system promoted by Fidel in Cuba and condemned state repression in the U.S. during a press conference to promote the Sunday match between his team, the San Francisco 49ers’ and the Miami Dolphins, as part of the NFL's regular season.

The argument began when the Miami Herald reporter asked the quarterback about a T-shirt he wore featuring a picture of Fidel next to Malcolm X.

“One thing that Fidel Castro did do is they have the highest literacy rate because they invest more in their education system than they do in their prison system, which we do not do here, even though we’re fully capable of doing that,” said Kaepernick.

Kaepernick also criticized the genocide of Native Americans and the mass incarceration system in the U.S. that "breaks up families, before praising the role Malcolm X played in the fight for justice.

“I wore a Malcolm X shirt. I am a believer in Malcolm X and his ideology and what he talks about and believes in as far as fighting oppression,” said Kaepernick.

"The fact that he met with Fidel, to me, speaks to his open mind to be willing to hear different aspects of people’s views and ultimately being able to create his own views as far the best way (sic) to approach different situations and different cultures.”

Malcolm X and Fidel Castro met on Sept. 19, 1960 in Harlem, New York, when the Black activist famously told the Cuban leader, “As long as Uncle Sam is against you, you know you’re a good man.”

Kaepernick announced last week he would donate a million dollars of his salary to organizations fighting against social and racial oppression and injustice, adding the donations will be tracked through a website.