Kaepernick Keeps Word On Donating Cash To Causes
SAN JOSE (CBS) -- As 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick continues to stage his pre-game protest over police use of force by kneeling during the national anthem, he has also started to follow through on a promise to donate a million dollars to the cause.
Kaepernick, whose decision to kneel during the national anthem has made him a lightning rod for criticism, has energized activists tackling issues of race and police relations.
KPIX 5 found he has already made donations to a pair Silicon Valley activist groups that helps families who have lost loved ones in police shootings.
"My son's pain is everybody's pain, because no child should go through this," explained Justice For Josiah founder Laurie Valdez. "And so, the healing retreat was important to me."
Kaepernick's $25,000 donation Valdez's organization will help families who've lost loved in police shootings. Valdez and her son Josiah lost Josiah's father Antonio Lopez when he was shot and killed by San Jose State University police two years ago.
"That's so important. For a lot of the families to begin to heal, it helps to be in one place where all of us understand each other's pain," said Valdez. "And we can embrace each other. We can support each. We can get advice."
Silicon Valley Debug, a grassroots civil rights organization in San Jose, was the first group to receive a donation from Kaepernick.
"I couldn't have any more respect for the courage it took to take that public of a stance when so much was on the line," said Silicon Valley Debug Executive Director Raj Jayadev.
In addition to organizing a healing retreat for families, Jayadev says debug plans to make a series of instructional videos aimed at helping the families of people who've been injured or killed by police or who find themselves under arrest and navigating the crime justice system for the first time.
"These types of projects -- we believe they're going to be very impactful, maybe, even life changing -- would not be possible if we didn't have the funding to do it," said Jayadev
He said debug was invited last month to speak at a youth conference organized by Kaepernick.
The officers involved in the Lopez shooting were cleared. The family has filed a wrongful death civil suit.