Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Tina Turner

Martha Nell “Tina” Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter and actress. Known as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the husband-wife duo Ike & Tina Turner before launching a successful career as a solo performer. She was recognized for her “swagger, sensuality, powerful gravelly vocals and unstoppable energy.” In 1994 she began living in Küsnacht, Switzerland, and relinquished her American citizenship after obtaining Swiss citizenship in 2013.

Born Anna Mae Bullock, near Brownsville, TN, she began singing as a teen and joined Ike Turner’s touring show as an 18-year-old backup vocalist. Just two years later, she was the star of the show, the attention-grabbing focal point for an incredibly smooth-running soul revue headed by Ike and his Kings of Rhythm. The couple began hitting the charts in 1960 with “A Fool in Love,” and notched charting singles throughout the 1960s such as “River Deep-Mountain High” and in 1971 with “Proud Mary.”

Frustrated by Ike’s increasingly irrational behavior, though, Tina walked out just three years later. Turner converted to Buddhism in 1974 to help her conquer her troubling marriage to Ike Turner. Turner has credited Buddhism with giving her the courage to leave Ike and to find peace. Since then she has been acknowledged as one of the world’s most popular entertainers, biggest-selling music artists of all time, and the most successful female rock artist ever. She had record sales of nearly 200 million copies worldwide and sold more concert tickets than any other solo performer in music’s history.

After leaving Ike Turner in 1976, and divorcing him in 1978, Turner didn’t get into a serious relationship again until she met a German record executive named Erwin Bach while at Heathrow Airport in London in 1985. After a year, they started dating and have been living together ever since. Bach is 17 years younger than Turner.

Turner’s world tour Break Every Rule Tour had record- breaking ticket sales and was attended by over 4 million fans. Turner also beat out The Rolling Stones by touring Europe during her sold out Foreign Affair Tour in 1990 and playing to 4 million people in just six months. Her 1996 Wildest Dreams Tour was performed to 3.5 million fans.

In 2000, she launched her Twenty Four Seven Tour that packed stadiums all over the world. It was the highest grossing tour of the year, and is the 5th biggest grossing tour in America ever. Her success and contributions to the rock music genre have garnered her title, “The Queen of Rock & Roll.”

She is known for her overpowering and energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, ground-breaking concerts. She was listed on Rolling Stone’s list, “The Immortals: The Greatest Artists of All Time.” Turner is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and she is also represented in the Grammy Hall of Fame by two of her recordings: “River Deep – Mountain High” (1999) and “Proud Mary” (2003).

Turner has won eight Grammy Awards. In February 2008, at age 68, Turner performed together with Beyoncé at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. In addition, she picked up a Grammy as a featured artist on River: The Joni Letters. On April 29, 2008, Turner announced that she would embark on her Tina: Live in Concert Tour on October 1 in Kansas City, MO, at the Sprint Center. Turner is the mother of two sons and adopted Ike Turner’s two children from other relationships.

Turner has lived in Europe since the mid-1980s, having moved to London in 1986 before settling in Switzerland later that decade. In 1996, she began building a villa outside Nice, France, which was completed by 2000. Turner now divides her time between Switzerland, England, and France and has recently applied for full Swiss citizenship.

Turner revealed in her 2018 memoir My Love Story that she had multiple life-threatening illnesses. She had high blood pressure since 1978, which remained mostly untreated, and resulted in damage to her kidneys and eventual kidney failure. In 2013, three weeks after her wedding to Erwin Bach, she had a stroke and needed to learn to walk again. In 2016, she was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. While she attempted to treat her health problems with homeopathy, they worsened.

Her chances of receiving a kidney transplant were considered low and she was urged to start dialysis. She signed up with an organization that facilitates assisted suicide, a procedure which is legal in Switzerland, becoming a member of Exit International. However, her husband offered to donate a kidney for transplant. She accepted his donation and had kidney transplant surgery on April 7, 2017. Turner also openly discussed her feeling of shame after discovering that she had dyslexia.

On May 24, 2023, Turner died at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, aged 83, following years of illness. Turner’s body was cremated after a private funeral.

In the aftermath of her death, many fellow artists mourned her loss.

Written by Dianne Washington

Phife Dawg

Malik Izaak Taylor (November 20, 1970 – March 22, 2016), known professionally as Phife Dawg (or simply Phife), was an American rapper and a member of the group A Tribe Called Quest with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (and for a short time Jarobi White). He was also known as the “Five-Foot Assassin” and “the Five-Footer”, because he stood at 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m).

Phife Dawg was born Malik Izaak Taylor on November 20, 1970, in Queens, New York City, the son of Trinidadian immigrant parents Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, a poet, and Walt Taylor. Born prematurely, his twin brother Mikal died shortly after birth. His mother settled in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens, where Phife Dawg was raised, when she was 13 years old. He was a cousin of writer Zinzi Clemmons.

He first met his friend Q-Tip at the age of two, and at nine years old, Phife Dawg suggested that they should rap, after hearing “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang for the first time. He attended Pine Forge Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school near Philadelphia, for his freshman year of high school, later transferring to Springfield Gardens High School in Queens.

Phife Dawg formed A Tribe Called Quest, then simply named Quest, with Q-Tip and DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad in 1985; the group was later expanded with the addition of Jarobi White. A Tribe Called Quest were closely associated with fellow hip-hop acts De La Soul and Jungle Brothers, with the groups collectively known as the Native Tongues. A Tribe Called Quest was initially offered a demo deal by Geffen Records in 1989, but signed to Jive Records to release its 1990 début People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

Phife Dawg’s contributions to the group increased on its second album, 1991’s The Low End Theory, which saw Phife—often calling himself “the Five-Foot Assassin”—rapping about social and political issues; the record has since been acclaimed by critics and musicians. The group released three more albums that decade—Midnight Marauders in 1993, Beats, Rhymes and Life in 1996, and The Love Movement in 1998—before disbanding as a result of conflict both with their record label and internally. The group’s troubles, especially the sometimes tense relationship between Phife and Q-Tip, were featured in the 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, directed by Michael Rapaport.

Phife also performed with other artists. He was featured on the Fu-Schnickens song “La Schmoove”, Diamond D’s “Painz & Strife” with Pete Rock, and Chi-Ali’s “Let the Horns Blow” with Dres, Al’ Tariq and Trugoy. In 2000, he released his debut solo album, Ventilation: Da LP. In 2013, it was reported that Phife was working on another solo album, MUTTYmorPHosis. A single, “Sole Men”, was released one day after Phife’s death (March 23, 2016) along with a posthumously released video. Another single, “Nutshell”, was released online in April 2016 along with a posthumously released video.

On November 13, 2015, A Tribe Called Quest reunited for a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. That night, Phife and Q-Tip decided to put aside their differences and record a new group album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, in secrecy. Phife spent four months working on the album before his death; it was completed by the surviving members and released on November 11, 2016. In February 2017, it was announced that Phife’s second studio album would be released later in the year. The single “Wanna Dance” was released that month and features Dwele and Mike City.

Phife Dawg’s second solo album, Forever, was released on March 22, 2022, the sixth anniversary of his death.

Taylor was married to Deisha Head-Taylor and had two children, a daughter and a son. He was a fan of the New York Knicks, and was a playable character in the video games NBA 2K7 and NBA 2K9.

Taylor was diagnosed with diabetes in 1990. Conflicting reports indicated it as type 1, while other sources reported it as type 2. He described himself as a “funky diabetic” in the single “Oh My God” from A Tribe Called Quest’s 1993 album Midnight Marauders. After the group disbanded, he continued playing live shows to help cover medical costs, and revealed in the 2011 documentary film Beats, Rhymes & Life that he was “just addicted to sugar … it’s really a sickness”. In 2008, Taylor developed renal failure and received a kidney transplant from his wife, but it was unsuccessful, and by 2012 he again required a transplant.

On March 22, 2016, Taylor died at age 45 in his Oakley, California, home due to complications of diabetes.

Written by Dianne Washington

Alicia Myers

Alicia Myers (born November 20, 1957) is an American R&B musician. Beginning her music career with the band Al Hudson & the Soul Partners, who later evolved into One Way, Myers went on to a moderately successful solo career in the early 1980s, scoring hits such as “I Want to Thank You”, “Don’t Stop What You’re Doin'”, and “You Get the Best from Me (Say, Say, Say)”.

Myers was born on November 20, 1957, in Detroit, Michigan, to Lawrence and Margaret Myers, as one of their nine children. Her older brother, Jackie Myers, also a musician, would later become part of the beach band Chairmen of the Board. The two siblings competed in a local talent competition in April 1968 at Detroit’s Martin Luther King Jr. High School, where they sang, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, originally performed by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and they were awarded first place. She attended Lee University for her collegiate studies.

She is a survivor of childhood tuberculosis. She later survived breast cancer in 1998 and has since become an advocate for the disease.

In 1978, she departed her hometown to start her music career in Los Angeles, California, with Al Hudson & the Soul Partners. With Myers in the lineup, they released the album Happy Feet as Al Hudson and the Partners in 1979; this record includes the R&B hit “You Can Do It”, co-penned by Myers and featuring her on lead vocals, which was a big club/disco hit. Soon thereafter, the group changed their name to One Way featuring Al Hudson and, eventually, simply One Way.

After her stint in the band, she started her solo music recording career in 1981, with the release of Alicia by MCA Records. This album achieved a Billboard magazine R&B Albums chart peak of No. 41 and featured two of her biggest hits, “I Want to Thank You” and “Don’t Stop What You’re Doin'”.

Her follow-up album, Alicia Again, released later the same year, failed to chart. Her subsequent album, I Fooled You This Time appeared the following year under the same label, and it surpassed the R&B Album chart placement of Alicia, reaching number 27. The high charting success of I Fooled You can be attributed to the inclusion of the aforementioned “I Want To Thank You”, which had gained popularity due to DJs such as Tee Scott playing it in heavy rotation, where it was discovered by those who missed it the previous year upon its initial release. Her fourth album, 1984’s I Appreciate became her highest-charting album on the R&B chart, peaking at number 12, while also heralding her only appearance on The Billboard 200, where it peaked at No. 186. I Appreciate would be her last album of newly recorded material released in the 1980s.

Universal Special Products re-released her debut Alicia album, with the same exact track listing, as Don’t Stop What You’re Doin’ in 1986, without further chart success.

In 2011, Myers released her first album of new material in 27 years, entitled Peace of Mind.

In October 2019, a mural by artist Stephen Powers was unveiled on Pier 40 in Manhattan, New York consisting of “I LOVE TO THANK YOU,” inspired by Myer’s song.

Written by Dianne Washington

Delroy George Lindo

Delroy George Lindo (born November 18, 1952) is an English actor and theatre director. Lindo has been nominated for the Tony and Screen Actors Guild awards and has won a Satellite Award. He is perhaps best known for his roles in a trio of Spike Lee films, especially as West Indian Archie in Lee’s Malcolm X (1992) and Woody Carmichael in Crooklyn (1994), Catlett in Get Shorty, Arthur Rose in The Cider House Rules, and Detective Castlebeck in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000). Lindo starred as Alderman Ronin Gibbons in the TV series The Chicago Code (2011), and as Winter on the series Believe, which premiered in 2014.

Delroy Lindo was born in 1952 in Eltham, south-east London, the son of Jamaican parents who had migrated to England. He was brought up in nearby Lewisham and got interested in acting as a child in a Nativity play. His mother was a nurse and his father worked in various jobs. As a teenager, he and his mother moved to Toronto, Canada. When he was sixteen, they moved to San Francisco. At the age of 24, Lindo started acting studies at the American Conservatory Theater, graduating in 1979.

Lindo’s movie debut came in 1976 with the British comedy Find The Lady, followed by two other roles in films, including an Army Sergeant in More American Graffiti (1979).

He quit film for 10 years to concentrate on theatre acting. In 1982 he debuted on Broadway in “Master Harold”…and the Boys, directed by the play’s South African author Athol Fugard. By 1988 Lindo had earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Herald Loomis in August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

Lindo returned to film in the 1990s, acting alongside Rutger Hauer and Joan Chen in the cult science fiction movie Salute of the Jugger (1990), which has become a cult classic. Although he had turned down Spike Lee for a role in his debut Do the Right Thing, Lee cast him as Woody Carmichael in the drama Crooklyn (1994), which brought him notice. Together with his other roles with Lee – as the West Indian Archie, a psychotic gangster, in Malcolm X, and a starring role as a neighbourhood drug dealer in Clockers – he became established in his film career.

Other films in which he has starring roles are Barry Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty (1995), Ron Howard’s Ransom (1996), and Soul of the Game (1996), as the baseball player Satchel Paige. As a character actor, Lindo has readily taken on roles as treacherous bad guys as well as those of trustworthy professionals.

In 1998 Lindo co-starred as African-American explorer Matthew Henson, in the TV movie Glory & Honor, directed by Kevin Hooks. It portrayed his nearly 20-year partnership with Commander Robert Peary in Arctic exploration and their effort to find the Geographic North Pole in 1909. He received a Satellite Award as best actor. Lindo continues to work in television and was most recently seen on the short-lived NBC drama Kidnapped.

Lindo played an angel in the comedy film A Life Less Ordinary (1997), in which Dan Hedaya played the angel Gabriel, and Lindo’s boss. He guest-starred on The Simpsons in the episode “Brawl in the Family”, playing a similar character named Gabriel.

Lindo had a small role in the 1995 science fiction/action film Congo, playing the corrupt Captain Wanta. Lindo was not credited for the role, but one of his lines in the film, “Stop eating my sesame cake!”, has become an internet meme.

In the British film, Wondrous Oblivion (2003), directed by Paul Morrison, he starred as Dennis Samuels, the father of a Jamaican immigrant family in London in the 1950s; he coaches his children and the son of a neighbour Jewish family in cricket, earning their admiration in a time of strained social relations. Lindo said he made the film in honor of his parents, who had similarly moved to London in those years.

In 2007, Lindo began an association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California, when he directed Tanya Barfield’s play The Blue Door. In the fall of 2008, Lindo revisited August Wilson’s play, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, directing a production at the Berkeley Rep. In 2010, he played the role of elderly seer Bynum in David Lan’s production of Joe Turner at the Young Vic Theatre in London.

Lindo is poised to play Marcus Garvey in an upcoming biopic of the black nationalist historical figure. And recently, was acclaimed for his role in Spike Lee’s “Da Five Bloods.”

Gene Anthony Ray

Gene Anthony Ray (May 24, 1962 – November 14, 2003) was an American actor, dancer, and choreographer. He was known for his portrayal of dancer Leroy Johnson in both the 1980 film Fame and the 1982–1987 Fame television series based upon the film.

Born in Harlem, New York, on May 24, 1962, Ray grew up in the neighborhood of West 153rd Street. He began performing early in life, street dancing at block parties. He performed in a dance class at the Julia Richman High School; he skipped school one day to audition for Fame choreographer, Louis Falco.

Ray attended the New York High School of the Performing Arts, the inspiration for the film Fame, but was kicked out after one year. “It was too disciplined for this wild child of mine,” Ray’s mother, Jean E. Ray, said.

Ray won the part of Leroy Johnson in the film Fame, which was released in 1980. Much like his Fame character, Ray had little professional training, but he possessed a raw talent that won him his role for the film. Reports USA Today: “Alan (Parker, the director) had to approach him very carefully. His mom was dealing drugs during the filming. It was not pretty.”

In 1981, Ray starred as Friday, alongside Michael York as Robinson Crusoe, in the 1981 TV adventure-comedy Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage [fr] (alternative title: Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday).

Ray also starred in television series based on the film, Fame. The series was produced by MGM Television from 1982 to 1987, and syndicated from 1983 to 1987.

Also in 1982, Ray danced in The Weather Girls’ music video for “Well-A-Wiggy”. Additionally, he began touring the U.K. with the other members of the Fame cast as The Kids from “Fame”; they performed at 10 venues, including a sell out performance at Royal Albert Hall.

In 1984, USA Today reports: “Ray was axed from the show after his mother was jailed for running a drug ring, and he failed to turn up for work 100 times.” He struggled with addictions to alcohol and drugs, and worked only intermittently once the TV series ended.

In 1987, he won the role of Billy Nolan in the ill-fated musical adaptation of Carrie by Stephen King. Ray played the role in the original opening in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which closed after less than a month. He then transferred to Broadway and continued to play the role until the musical closed after only 21 public performances.

Ray also appeared in the 1995 film Out-of-Sync, which was directed by his Fame co-star Debbie Allen, in the 1996 Whoopi Goldberg comedy Eddie (for which he was also credited as associate choreographer), as well as in commercials for Dr Pepper and Diet Coke.

His last video project was a one-hour BBC Fame reunion documentary, Fame Remember My Name, taped in Los Angeles in April 2003.

As his Telegraph obituary describes:

“Ray remained a ‘frantic partygoer’ with a self-confessed weakness for drink and drugs. As his life fell apart, he slept on park benches, and during a failed attempt to launch a Fame-style dance school in Milan, shared a flat there with a porn actress. In 1996 he was diagnosed HIV positive. He suffered a stroke in 2003.

“Flamboyantly camp, he brushed aside questions about his sexuality. He never married.”

In 2001, Marco Papa, an Italian artist, tried to trace Gene Anthony Ray to involve him in his art project Dancing on the Verge, a research between success and failure. The result of their professional and human relationship was documented by drawings, sculptures, installations video and multimedia performances, and collected in the book entitled Dancing on the Verge, published by Charta, which testifies to their path until the death of Ray.

Written by Dianne Washington

Double Dutch Extravaganza at School I.S. 219: A Thrilling Tournament Unveiled

On Saturday, November 18th In the heart of the South Bronx In a celebration of athleticism, precision, and team spirit, Headed by Jamal Turner and State Rep. Erica Martin. School I.S. 219 AKA X148 Charles Drew Education Campus hosted its much-anticipated Double Dutch Tournament. Set to unfold in the heart of the school’s vibrant community, this event promised to showcase the incredible talent and skills of participating students ranging from places like Connecticut, Washington D.C to Boston Massachusetts to our neighbors in Newark, Jersey City in New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Albany as well as parents, spectators, devoted double dutch enthusiasts and the community as a whole. Students have been diligently practicing their routines, mastering intricate footwork and synchronized jumps, in preparation for this exhilarating competition.

As teams from different grades and backgrounds come together, the Double Dutch Tournament becomes a melting pot of diversity, fostering unity and collaboration. Beyond the ropes, the event serves as a platform for students to showcase their dedication, perseverance, and the unyielding spirit of sportsmanship. The entire school community was ready to cheer on the grades from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade. As they weaved through the ropes with grace and precision, transforming the gymnasium into a stage for the dazzling athleticism of School I.S. 219’s Double Dutch competition. The kids were given a fantastic viewing from one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four.

History shows us that the sport has roots that date back to 1973, where dutch settlers bought the sport to New Amsterdam now New York. The sport is played with two long jump ropes swung in opposite directions so that they cross each other.

Throughout the evening the cheers from the audience and other participants raved and cheered supporting each and every individual that participated. Resulting in an event that bought on the hard work of the participants and left everyone a winner. Handing out Trophy’s, ribbons and certificates. On their downtime participants and coaches were seen free styling and supporting their students with flashy moves and delivering an all around spectacle. An event the South Bronx was proud to host and looks forward to hosting many more and supporting the obvious comeback of the competitive sport of Double Dutch.

Written By Don Anthony.

Leela James

Alechia Janeice Campbell (born May 22, 1983) in Los Angeles, California known professionally as Leela James, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter.

On July 8, 2014, James released her fifth studio album, Fall For You. The album’s first two singles, “Say That” feat. Anthony Hamilton and “Fall For You” both reached Top 15 on the Billboard Urban AC charts, with “Fall For You” reaching No. 12. James supported her album with tours nationwide, including performances at Essence Music Festival, Arizona Jazz Fest, San Diego Jazz Fest, Capitol Jazz Fest, and more.

James’ sixth album, Did It for Love was released on March 31, 2017, by Shesangz Music under license to BMG. The album has the singles “Don’t Want You Back” released on October 28, 2016, “Hard for Me” released on February 25, 2017, “Don’t Mean a Thang” released on March 27, 2017, and a video single “All Over Again” on May 4, 2017. The single “Don’t Want You Back” reached number 1 on Billboard’ Adult R&B Songs chart on April 15, 2017, becoming her highest-charting single ever.

In February 2021, James debuted the song “Complicated”, the first single off her seventh studio album See Me. It peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’ Adult R&B Songs chart on August 21, 2021.

Leela is married to Rischard Jenkins, and they share a son together.

Written by Dianne Washington

Statue of Liberty

Lady Liberty was inspired by the end of the Civil War and emancipation. The connection to immigration came later.

Lady Liberty was originally designed to celebrate the end of slavery, not the arrival of immigrants. Ellis Island, the inspection station through which million of immigrants passed, didn’t open until six years after the statue was unveiled in 1886. The plaque with the famous Emma Lazarus poem wasn’t added until 1903.

“One of the first meanings [of the statue] had to do with abolition, but it’s a meaning that didn’t stick,” Edward Berenson, a history professor at New York University and author of the book “The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story,” said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Written by Dianne Washington

Heavy D

Heavy D was born on May 24th in 1967. He was an African American Hip Hop/Rap artist.

Born Dwight Arrington Myers in Mandeville, Jamaica, the son of Eulahlee Lee, a nurse, and Clifford Vincent Myers, a machine technician. His family moved to Mount Vernon, New York, US in the early 1970s. In 1987, Heavy D & The Boyz, the group that he fronted, was the first act signed to Uptown Records, the record company started by Andre Harrell. The group enjoyed widespread fame in the early 1990s, and scored prominent cameos on hit songs with Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Heavy D also appeared on the theme songs for the popular sketch comedy shows “In Living Color” and “MadTV,” and later went on to run Uptown, the record label on which he’d spent much of his career.

But tragedy found the group at the beginning of its commercial success. Troy Dixon, a member of the group known as Trouble T Roy, died in an accident after a show when he fell from an exit ramp. Dixon’s death was the inspiration for Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.).” Heavy D was name-checked on the Notorious B.I.G.’s first hit single, “Juicy,” in which Biggie Smalls remembered growing up and wanting the kind of fame enjoyed by rap pioneers like Heavy D and Salt ‘N Pepa. A young Biggie Smalls appeared on Heavy D’s 1992 album “Blue Funk.” Heavy D, the rapper whose real name is Dwight Arrington Myers, is dead at the young age of 44.

He was known for heavyset physique, his dancing and tongue-twisting rhymes. Beverly Hills police told the Associated Press that Heavy D died in a Los Angeles hospital November 8th 2011 after collapsing at his condominium building. Heavy D’s death came almost a month after a comeback performance at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards, when he performed a medley of his best-known singles, among them “Nuttin’ But Love,” “Is It Good to You” and “Now That We Found Love.” On Twitter, he was known for posting affirming messages. His final tweet appeared early the morning he died.

Written by Dianne Washington

Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick was born on this date in 1987. He is a Black civil rights activist and American football (NFL) quarterback, a retired free agent, and unemployed.

Colin Rand Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Heidi Russo, who is white. His father, African American, separated from Russo before Kaepernick was born. Russo placed him up for adoption with a white couple named Rick and Teresa Kaepernick. The couple had two older children: son Kyle and daughter Devon. Kaepernick decided to adopt a boy after losing two sons to heart defects.

Kaepernick lived in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, until age four, when his family moved to California. Kaepernick began playing youth football as a defensive end and punter when he was eight. A 4.0 GPA student at John H. Pitman High School in Turlock, California, Kaepernick played football, basketball, and baseball and was nominated for all-state selection in all three sports his senior year. He was the most valuable player (MVP) of the Central California Conference in football, leading his school to its first-ever playoff victory. In basketball, he was a first-team All-CCC selection at forward.

Kaepernick played college football for the University of Nevada, where he was named the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Offensive Player of the Year twice and became the only player in NCAA Division I FBS history to amass 10,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards in a career. After graduating, he was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2011 National Football League Draft. Kaepernick began his professional football career as a backup quarterback to Alex Smith and became the 49ers’ starter in the middle of the 2012 season after Smith suffered a concussion.

He then remained the team’s starting quarterback for the rest of the season, leading the team to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1994. During the 2013 season, his first full season as a starter, Kaepernick helped the 49ers reach the NFC Championship Game. Over the next three seasons, Kaepernick lost and won back his starting job, with the 49ers missing the playoffs for three years consecutively.

In the 49ers’ third preseason game in 2016, Kaepernick sat while playing the U.S. national anthem before the game rather than stand as is customary, as a protest against racial injustice and systematic oppression in America. Kaepernick kneeled during the anthem the following week and throughout the regular season. The protests received highly polarized reactions, with some praising him and his stand against racism and others denouncing the protests as disrespectful to the armed forces.

The actions resulted in a broader protest movement, which intensified in September 2017 after President Donald Trump said that NFL owners should “fire” players who protest the national anthem. Kaepernick became a free agent after the season but went unsigned. In November 2017, he filed a grievance against the NFL and its owners, accusing them of colluding to keep him out of the league. Kaepernick withdrew the grievance in February 2019 after reaching a confidential settlement with the NFL. He played for the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons as a civil rights activist, best known for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of alleged police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.

Kaepernick has received the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, ACLU’s Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, and The W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University’s Hutchins Center Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. In 2018 he received Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award and was awarded the Len Eshmont by his NFL teammates. In 2020 he donated $100,000.00 to a covid-19 relief fund.

In 2021 and 2022, Kaepernick attempted to play professionally with tryouts in Michigan and Las Vegas with mixed results.

Written by Dianne Washington