Before former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick led the franchise to an NFC title and a Super Bowl XLVII appearance, he starred at Pitman High in Turlock, California.
Kaepernick’s high school years and his early-age experiences that led to his activism will be the subject of a six-part documentary titled, “Colin in Black and White” that will be produced by award-winning director, Ava DuVernay.
Netflix announced plans for the series Monday.
“Too often we see race and Black stories portrayed through a white lens,” Kaepernick said in a Netflix news release. “We seek to give new perspective to the differing realities that Black people face. We explore the racial conflicts I faced as an adopted Black man in a white community, during my high school years. It’s an honor to bring these stories to life in collaboration with Ava for the world to see.”
Kaepernick, 32, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a Black father and white mother and was adopted by a white couple, Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, in Turlock, who moved from Wisconsin to California when Colin was four years old.
After being selected by San Francisco in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft, Kaepernick took over as the 49ers starting quarterback in Week 10 of the 2012 season following an injury to Alex Smith. Kaepernick remained with the organization through the 2016 season. He began protesting racial injustice during the playing of the national anthem during the 2016 preseason and has not played in the NFL since starting a 25-23 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on January 1, 2017.
Since Kaepernick last appeared in the NFL, he founded the “Know Your Rights” camp, which has a mission to “advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders.”
In an interview on June 15, 2020, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he supports a team making the decision to sign Kaepernick and he would “encourage” a team to do so.
Kaepernick will serve as an executive producer and narrator for the series, which will lend “meaningful insight into the acts and experiences that led him to become the activist he is today,” according to Netflix.
“With his act of protest, Colin Kaepernick ignited a national conversation about race and justice with far-reaching consequences for football, culture and for him, personally,” DuVernay said in a news release. “Colin’s story has much to say about identity, sports and the enduring spirit of protest and resilience. I couldn’t be happier than to tell this story with the team at Netflix.”
Emmy Award nominee Michael Starrbury wrote the series and will work alongside DuVernay and Kaepernick as an executive producer. DuVernay was the first Black woman nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her work on Selma (2014) and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2017 for Best Documentary Feature Film for her film 13th (2016).
The six-episode series was conceived in 2019 and writing was completed in May, 2020. Netflix did not announce when the series will be available to stream.
