Colin Kaepernick pens letter that calls for abolishing police, prisons

Letter is a part of a new series of essays

FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2019, file photo, free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick participates in a workout for NFL football scouts and media in Riverdale, Ga. Kaepernick was a second-round draft pick in 2011 who the next year led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. By 2016, he had begun kneeling on the sideline at games during the national anthem to protest social injustice and police brutality. Soon after, he was gone from the NFL, and he has not played since. (AP Photo/Todd Kirkland, File) (Todd Kirkland, Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

HOUSTON – Former NFL player and activist Colin Kaepernick is calling for an end to police and prison institutions in a series of published essays, CNN reported.

The essays are part of his series called “Abolition for the People: The Movement for the Future Without Policing and Prisons” published by Kaepernick’s own publishing company and Medium’s publication Level. Thirty essays will be published in a span of four weeks. Kaepernick’s letter, "The Demand for Abolition,” is the debut essay.

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“Systemic problems demand systemic solutions,” he wrote in his essay.

The essays will focus on several hot topics, including abolishing the police and the prison system. In later essays, essays will also tackle the “elimination of White Supremacy and the execution of Blacks and people of color," CNN reported.

“By abolishing policing and prisons, not only can we eliminate white supremacist establishments, but we can create space for budgets to be reinvested directly into communities to address mental health needs, homelessness and houselessness, access to education, and job creation as well as community-based methods of accountability,” he wrote.

The latest essay published Tuesday focuses on “living in a world without ICE," written by two members of the United We Dream movement.


About the Author:

A graduate of the University of Houston-Downtown, Ana moved to H-Town from sunny southern California in 2015. In 2020, she joined the KPRC 2 digital team as an intern. Ana is a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur, a catmom of 3, and an aquarium enthusiast. In her spare time, she's an avid video gamer and loves to travel.