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Richard Sherman spoke to the media on Wednesday, when he discussed Michael Bennett’s incident with Las Vegas police — but also touched on Colin Kaepernick and national anthem protests.
Sherman said that he felt Kaepernick taking a knee, and Bennett sitting for the national anthem, wasn’t the best method, because he thought it led to people talking more about the action than the message behind the action.
When asked what he thought would be the best approach, Sherman told reporters, "I wish I knew. If I knew, I'd be doing it, I'd be doing more.”
Sherman mentioned giving money to different causes, and donating to the police department to better educate officers, as well as to people who lost loved ones to violence.
Sherman reiterated that he disagreed with the action of sitting for the anthem, and not the message that Kaepernick, Bennett, and others have been trying to get across since last season — that minorities in the United States still face oppression. Sherman even took the time to detail the last time he was profiled, which came while he was at Stanford helping somebody move.
“It's because people aren't even getting the point,” Sherman said. “He's going out there and making a stand and you might as well be saying, 'blah blah blah blah blah.' Because people are just seeing you kneel during the national anthem, and they're taking that and closing their ears. And that's unfortunate.”
"I think [Kaepernick’s] intent was pure,” Sherman added. “His heart was pure, he was trying to do the right thing. But in our society, you've got to find the right way to do the right thing so people don't close their ears.”
While he didn’t necessarily agree with the method that Kaepernick and Bennett used to get their message across, Sherman still stood up for Kaepernick, who has yet to be signed to an NFL roster. He said he was surprised that Kaepernick was not on a team.
“I think I've expressed that countless times that I'm surprised,” Sherman said. “I had a little exchange with Albert Breer — who's a good friend, he's a great guy — earlier because he had written an article [about] nameless, faceless execs of nameless, faceless teams talking about 'oh, I didn't like [Kaepernick] coming out of college.' So you're such a bad exec that you're judging a kid off college tape, when the kid has been to Super Bowls and won NFC championships and been to multiple NFC championships. And you're still talking about his college tape.”
He also disagreed with the common argument that Kaepernick wouldn’t fit in certain systems. “You got guys who are so quick to judge and critique, 'oh it's not because of the anthem, it's because he can't play.' But, you know, Mark Sanchez played in Chip [Kelly']s system and then got a job after.”
Sherman said that he felt teams were looking for excuses to keep Kaepernick out of the league, and concluded with, “You know, you look for excuses, you can find them.”