This piece, originally intended for the New Yorker, who said: “Thanks for sending your Kaepernick image. We wish we could use it, but unfortunately […] the timing of our double issue is not working in our favor” was published by the Paris Review instead. NFL star Colin Kaepernick, by famously kneeling down while the national anthem was played at a game in 2017 (over which he lost his job), created an iconic image of standing up to systemic racism in the US.