Months after Colin Kaepernick revealed his plans to release a memoir, he and his publishing company—Kaepernick Publishing—are joining forces with Medium.
Aside from having a seat on Medium’s board of directors, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback will be conducting a series of Q&A interviews on the topics of race, prison reform, and more. Content from Kaepernick’s tentatively titled series “Conversations with Colin” will be published on Medium’s Level, where he’ll also consult on a series of feature articles on the Black men-focused vertical led by former VIBE editor-in-chief, Jermaine Hall.
“Colin is one of our social justice leaders,” Hall said to The Washington Post. “I think he’s leading the charge and it’s based on what’s going on in the country right now. And because he’s no longer in the NFL and we’ve lost his talent on the field — hopefully he gets back there — but we’ve gained an incredibly powerful voice for the black community who can actually affect social change.”
Kaepernick will also be collaborating with Level’s Black news focused vertical, Momentum, and “sharing his thoughts on anti-racism in our society” and “co-publish thought-provoking feature stories from diverse writers of color,” according to the statement released by Medium’s CEO Ev Williams.
Kaepernick Publishing and its founder released the following statement on Twitter:
We’re excited to announce our founder, @kaepernick7, will be the newest Board Member @medium. In addition to this, #KaepernickPublishing partners with Medium to further our mission uplifting voices of our communities. pic.twitter.com/FQYYNdTQcP
— Kaepernick Publishing (@KaepernickPub) June 18, 2020
“Throughout history, our stories have been manipulated, destroyed, and erased,” says Kaepernick in the video reel on his publishing company’s official website. “Our culture has been colonized, our genius exploited, and our creativity co-opted.
“We’ve had to fight for our humanity, representation, and control. Control of our narratives is crucial to decolonize knowledge, stories, cultures, and minds. We must take control of our narratives. The kind of control that can liberate us from seeing ourselves through the gaze of others. The kind of control that can change the way we see the world and how the world sees us.”