Everyone has an opinion about Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the national anthem. From his fellow athletes to sports commentators, people have either sided with Kaepernick or wholeheartedly disagreed with his stance. And now someone who probably shouldn't have an opinion about Kaepernick has publicly voiced her opinion on Twitter.
Heidi Russo, Kaepernick's birth mother, tweeted the son she gave away for adoption, saying that she totally disagrees with his stance.
Of course, people had their share of side eyes for Russo:
There's no telling what type of relationship Kaepernick has with his birth mother, but his adoptive parents could be credited with the self-awareness he carries today and have said they recognized early on how to equip themselves when it came to raising a black kid.
“When we adopted him, I bought some books from the library on raising children from another race, but what it all came down to was common sense more than anything,” Teresa Kaepernick told USA Today in a 2012 interview. “You want him to feel really good about the race he is. You’re not trying to make him white.”
Teresa Kaepernick also told the reporter about how she made sure to surround Colin with other black people, even if it meant doing something as simple as taking him to a black salon to get his hair cornrowed. She also shared a quip about the moment he realized he was a different color from his parents.
“I remember very well; he was just a couple years old, him putting his arm next to mine and saying, ‘Look, I’m brown! How come I’m brown?’” Teresa Kaepernick recalled. “And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s not fair, you’ve got that pretty brown color, and look at me, Mom looks like paste! You look great.’ And he would just beam.”
Whereas Russo is publicly criticizing the son she gave up for adoption, one has to wonder how Teresa Kaepernick feels about the stance her son is taking. Something tells me she'd probably have a totally different opinion.