colin kaepernick in ghana

LOOK: Colin Kaepernick, in Ghana, tweets about finding his independence on July 4

Kaepernick says he went home -- to the land of his ancestors -- for personal discovery
Colin Kaepernick took to social media July 4 to explain why he took a recent trip to Ghana to find his own independence. His Twitter post features a video of his journey, while an Instagram post featuring the same video included a this message from Kaepernick, starting with a quote from Frederick Douglass.

• by Nate Peterson

Colin Kaepernick took to social media July 4 to explain why he took a recent trip to Ghana to find his own independence. His Twitter post features a video of his journey, while an Instagram post featuring the same video included a this message from Kaepernick, starting with a quote from Frederick Douglass.

"What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?" - Frederick Douglass. In a quest to find my personal independence, I had to find out where my ancestors came from. I set out tracing my African ancestral roots, and it lead me to Ghana. Upon finding out this information, I wanted to visit the sites responsible for myself (and many other Black folks in the African Diaspora) for being forced into the hells of the middle passage. I wanted to see a fraction of what they saw before reaching the point of no return. I spent time with the/my Ghanaian people, from visiting the local hospital in Keta and the village of Atito, to eating banku in the homes of local friends, and paying my respects to Kwame Nkrumah's Memorial Park. I felt their love, and truly I hope that they felt mine in return. 

Here is Kaepernick's tweet and the Instagram post, which will most certainly spark more conversation between the controversial quarterback's supporters and his crtics. Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the brink of winning Super Bowl XLII remains a free agent after being released by the 49ers this off season.


Kaepernick has passed his time as a free agent by taking up multiple humanitarian causes over the past few months. In January he donated his gigantic sneaker collection to homeless people in San Francisco, and in March, he helped raise funds to fly a plane full of food and water to help the struggling population of Somalia.

Kaepernick has also made a $50,000 donation to Meals on Wheels, donated hundreds of custom suits to a charity that helps people get a job after they're released from jail and has donated $700,000 to charity over the past nine months as part of a pledge last season where he promised to donate a total of $1 million to help communities in need. Also, he's been running his "Know your rights" camp.
During his trip to Africa he also visited Egypt, and we know that because he showed up on in a few pictures with 49ers receiver Marquise Goodwin on Saturday.