On September 1, 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled for the playing of the national anthem arguing that he was “not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” noting that “this is bigger than football and it would be selfish . . . to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Kaepernick received a tremendous amount of backlash for this action, and many White fans/media pundits accused him of disrespecting the flag and U.S. military. This act took place during the very contentious presidential election in the United States between eventual winner Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. During this election, the Trump campaign mobilized discourses of White nationalism, and even employed alt-right member Steve Bannon as Trump’s chief advisor for a period. The Trump campaign capitalized on a set of White backlash politics that had been growing since the 1990s, and the reactions to Kaepernick’s protest cannot be separated from this larger context. In this article, we critically read internet memes of Colin Kaepernick to gain insight into the relationship between race, gender, and the nation during the rise of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency.

2016年9月1日，旧金山49人队四分卫四分卫Colin Kaepernick跪下打国歌，辩称他“不会站出来为一个压迫黑人和有色人种国家的旗帜而自豪”，并指出“这比足球还大，这将是自私的。。。换一种说法。大街上有尸体，人们得到带薪休假，逃脱谋杀。” 卡佩尼克为此行动遭到了强烈反对，许多白人球迷/媒体评论家指责他不尊重国旗和美国军方。这一举动发生在美国最终总统唐纳德·特朗普和希拉里·克林顿之间极富争议的总统选举中。在这次选举期间，特朗普竞选活动动员了白人民族主义的言论，甚至聘请了另类右翼成员史蒂夫·班农（Steve Bannon）为特朗普担任首席顾问一段时间。特朗普竞选活动利用了自1990年代以来一直在发展的一系列怀特反弹政策，对卡佩尼克抗议的反应也不能与更大的背景分开。在本文中，我们批判性地阅读了科林·卡佩尼克（Colin Kaepernick）的互联网模因，以深入了解唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）担任美国总统期间的种族，性别与国家之间的关系。