“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Colin Kaepernick  

I first heard of Colin Kaepernick in 2012 when he replaced Alex Smith as quarterback for the 49rs while Smith recovered from a concession. In a very controversial decision, his coach decided to continue to start Kaepernick even after Alex Smith recovered. I remember thinking at the time it was quite the Friday Night Lights story. The super solid quarterback replaced by a younger, flashier player. Despite the controversy, it proved to be the right decision because Colin led the 49rs to the Super Bowl.

I had never been much of a follower of football, but my boyfriend (now husband) was a huge 49er fan. I watched more football that year than I had the last 20 years. But this team was my childhood team as well and what can I say? I got a little caught up despite myself.    

Then in 2016, Colin Kaepernick started something big. He chose, at great potential cost to his reputation and career to not stand during the National Anthem in order to bring attention to the oppression of black people. His standing with the 49rs at that time was actually somewhat tenuous, due to more lows than highs as a quarterback between the years of 2013 and 2016. Even so, he took a knee and the rest is history.

To say that this has been controversial would be an understatement. The response to his actions was swift and negative. At this time, in 2017, Colin Kaepernick is a free agent and has not been selected for any team. This has sparked a national debate with many protesting what appears to be a conscious decision by the NFL to punish him, despite his talents as a player.  

Nevertheless many players inspired by Colin’s actions, have continued protesting the National Anthem in various ways during 2017.

Then something amazing happened. Our president made a statement that players who sit during the anthem should be fired and went on to call the protestors SOB’s. Over the course of 11 hours of games that Sunday, most players either locked arms in solidarity, knelt, or didn’t leave the locker room at all during the National Anthem.

While much of this was more in protest to the remarks of our President, we must not forget this protest started with Colin Kaepernick trying to bring attention to the systemic oppression of black people in our country.

I think Colin Kaepernick is a true hero. As with anything these days, this incredible show of support got me thinking about his Human Design. Human Design is an amazingly detailed personality profile which combines the disciplines of eastern and western astrology, the Chinese I-Ching, The Kabbalah Tree of Life, Hindu Chakras and Quantum Physics. It is a truly illuminating way to dig into someone’s personality so I couldn’t resist taking a gander.  

Without a time of birth, I ran Colin’s chart both at 6am and 6pm. Both charts were pretty much the same with one exception, the moon was in the gates of controlling resources and patterns at 6am and in the gates of shock and ideas at 6pm. My intuition and gut tell me that Colin is driven by shock and ideas more than he is driven by maintaining resources and patterns so I’ll go with that chart for these purposes.

Colin is a Projector type. Projectors consist of approximately 20% of the population. He intuitively knows what people should do but he must wait to be invited to share his insights or energetically he will encounter a negative response. When he decided to take that knee, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Nevertheless, he persisted with full knowledge of the potential consequences.

Colin is a natural storyteller who is here to bring stories from the past to the present to share his strong values. He is driven by his competitive spirit to potentially shock people into hearing what he has to say about these stories. Colin is also a very sensitive witness to the stories of people’s lives. He is not only deeply sensitive but also deeply empathic. He understands the importance of holding onto and sharing these important stories. His timing may not always be correct but his intention is to bear witness, to correlate the stories of what people are going though in the present with the stories of the past and to share this with the world.

So it does not surprise me that his sensitive response to witnessing the violence perpetuated on black people was to act. That it moved him to bear witness and bring attention to the story of these victims by non-violently protesting this country in a manner that was consistent with the practices of the protestors who have historically come before him.  

He is under pressure to express these energies in his chart and he is not someone who knows when enough is enough.

With so much projected energy in his chart, the response to his actions and words may not have been positive for the most part, but he got through to enough people to start a movement. His actions opened up the door so that other athletes are able to protest the injustices in this country. After what happened this weekend, I have no doubt that the actions of more than 100 NFL players have inspired people across the country to fight for what is right. Something we sorely need at this time.

While the first part of his life has been focused on his body as an athlete (yes this is in his chart), the second half of his life will be focused on sharing the powerful healing energy of love of spirit. Also, Projectors are here to manage and guide people. So whether or not he is able to play again, I hope he knows he has a more important purpose in this lifetime.

His ideas may make him seem a little strange but like the rest of his generation, he is more than willing to struggle if that means bringing the stories of the past to the present to make a difference today.         

We really must give credit where credit is due.