COLIN KAEPERNICK NEW NETFLIX JOINT, COLIN IN BLACK AND WHITE, IS ON POINT!!!

DIVERSE TALES IN A WORLD THAT'S TRYING TO PUSH ONE NARRATIVE

Real Life Colin Kaepernick and his Netflix doppelganger, Jaden Michael.

We can sit here all day and kick the ballistics about Colin Kaepernick and the NFL shit show that played itself out during the Trump Administration. I will at some point compose myself and my words to deliver to my readers and innocent bystanders my unfiltered opinion on all of the “TRICKNOLOGY” that occurred in that time period. However, today we’re not going to get into all that. We’re going to talk about Kap’s revolutionary and extremely moving new NETFLIX series, COLIN in BLACK and WHITE. This is a show that deserves all the kudos and attention it can possibly get because instead of crying about all the burned Kaepernick jerseys…the dismissive attitude of the NFL and their flip-floppish attitudes and agendas and even the scorn of a former occupant of the oval office…because Kap took his talents elsewhere to build even greater inroads to human beings understanding each other. This show is extremely gratifying to me as not only a man of color…but also as an American and a human being. So rarely do we get something this important in our daily pop culture diet that I had to binge it, review it and then spread the word. I am thankful and inspired by the creators of this series (Colin Kaepernick and the oh so brilliant, Ava Duvernay) and I wanted to say it out loud.

I’m really just an independent comic book writer. I review pop culture from time to time so I can establish a following with my family, friends and potential fanbase. I started writing a blog awhile ago and quickly grew bored of it primarily because a lot of the content that I was consuming at that time didn’t offer me anything new or exciting to my palate. In short, there was nothing that appealed to my interest in my own cultural sphere…no black superheroes that were being developed…no stories about black families or historical figures that rang true or posessed any true AFRO-AUTHENTICITY. If you look at my past blogs, my various websites I have invested in over the years…they have all been created to capture a certain feeling that people of all colors could certainly experience but most off all I wanted other African Americans to enjoy because I hoped they would see a piece of themselves in my work. It is refreshing and even therapeutic to see your experiences and heroes that look like you go through their hero’s journey on the big screen at the cineplex or the 56”inch plasma screen at the crib. That’s why I created two comic books about Black Superheroes. It’s why the Black Panther and T’challa are now household names. It’s why I am so amped about Colin Kaepernick’s new netflix show. It’s about a real life superhero, not a martyr or a person without flaws or mistakes, but a brother nonetheless who is on a startling journey that involves the excavation of his own identity and his duty to himself first and foremost and then his community. This show is about Kap’s Hero Journey and it is as captivating as any myth about the Golden Fleece or a title bout with Apollo Creed.

This wonderful bio-pic/ social commentary concerning Kap’s childhood…his white adopted parents and his odyssey of claiming his racial inheritance while trying to achieve excellence academics and sports is as compelling as any sports drama I have ever seen in recent memory. At first, I guess you could say problems like hair style…your clothing, your manner of speech and your ability to communicate with girls are all common issues for young men erupting from puberty and you would be right! Ava Duvernay and company are skilled enough with the script and the cameras to peel back another layer and uncover the parellel dimension that I certainly encountered as a young scholarly athlete in predominantly white schools. I was familiar with this world of subtle racial horrors, social discipline and rebellion that my black parents were there to not only warn me about but help me navigate safely through. No such luck for Colin in this regard. I have often heard people say that… “Aw man…Kaepernick had it made. It’s not like he grew up in the hood. His parents were white and pretty well off upper middle-class. He had no worries.” Not so true. It’s difficult finding your place in this world when you have to straddle the fence of white/and black. Duvernay makes this point well in this seven episode series and raises the stakes later on when you consider that Kap was attempting to become the cherished and much coveted position of quarterback on his high school football team. Not usually the first position most white coaches consider utilizing an African American player at.

Kap’s parents were great in this tv show and I truly hope these were lifelike depictions of how they really were. The actors, Nick Offerman and Mary Louise Parker, turn in endearing performances as parents who would take a bullet for their bi-racial son but still remain somewhat in the dark concerning matters of race. I enjoyed seeing the delicate line between wanting to help your son achieve some African-American verisimilitude but still not quite being able to tolerate his Allen Iversonesque braids and dark-chocolate prom date that he tries to conceal from them. These were particularly rewarding scenes for folks like myself that have watched thousands of movies but never seen subject matter like this handled so effectively. The young king who plays young Colin, Jaden Michael, is the supernova heart of this entire production. He expertly channels all of the joys, the victories and defeats that young male teenagers go through in their efforts to become men and pursue their dreams. His quest to become a quarterback is a visceral and mental quest embedded firmly in his DNA, and his emotion tinged performance will move you.

If there were any glaring spots or agitating pieces for me to comment on…I will say not many. A few times I felt maybe some wooden stiffness emanating from Colin Kaepernick himself…and a bit of his inner nerd creeping out but hey…I have always appreciated the brother for being real, and maybe that’s just him exuding that “real energy”. As always, in productions like this…I stay on the ready to point out (Cartoonishly Evil White Folk)…there are a few egregiously evil white people who seem a bit extra, I’m not complaining because believe it or not…in real life I have encountered a lot of those cartoonishly evil white folk who wanted me to serve hard time for cutting through their yard or reading a Sports Illustrated at the grocery store while my mother was shopping (true stories)…but it seems like every time Black people demonstrate examples of something like this, white viewers assume that’s a plot convenience rather than a real scenario. There are also a few historical charts, graphics and photos of black public figures that were reminiscent of Ava Duvernay’s other signature work…13th (watch this movie…very important to understanding the current racial climate in our country)…and for me these kind of broke up the flow of this fascinating story. But I’m not complaining. This series was a revelation for me.

After I watched it, I jumped in my car and blasted “I love Myself” by Kendrick Lamar because that’s how this show made me feel.

Much love Mr. Kaepernick and Ms. Duvernay.

Everybody needs these stories.

This show gets 5 SUPERGANGSTA brims. Well done.