In his Opening Convocation address to students, Morehouse College President John Silvanus Wilson, Jr., referenced the Colin Kaepernick controversy, telling students, "Colin Kaepernick sat for those 65 seconds to make a wordless statement…What Kaepernick did and is doing has Morehouse written all over it because it is indeed a Morehouse tradition to draw attention to injustice. It is a Morehouse thing because, based on how he has explained himself so far, when he sits, he is in fact standing."
Wilson used the incident to talk about other black Americans who have taken stands for social justice.
“Before Colin Kaepernick, there was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who sat out, not for 65 seconds, but for two weeks, when he boycotted the entire 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico to protest against American racism. He made a wordless statement, too,” said Wilson. “Before Colin Kaepernick, there was Muhammad Ali, a champion boxer who made the decision to sit down, not just for 65 seconds for an anthem, but for three entire years because of an unjust war! And he made a wordless statement, too. So, Colin Kaepernick is in fact standing — he is standing on the shoulders of giants.”
To read more of what Wilson told students at Morehouse, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.
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