VIDEO: American football star Colin Kaepernick traces ancestral roots to Ghana; celebrates US Independence Day in Cape Coast

Published on: 08 July 2017

America football star Colin Kaepernick celebrated this year’s Independence Day in Cape Coast, after tracing his ancestral origin from the former Ghana capital.

The former 49ers quarterback tweeted a minute-long video Tuesday of a trip he took to Cape Coast Castle, a former slave trade hub in Ghana, and questioned the celebration of Independence Day in the U.S.

Kaepernick created controversy last season when he chose to kneel during the playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner" as a way to protest police brutality against minorities.

Born in Milwaukee and raised in California by white foster parents, Kaepernick said he knelt during the national anthem because he would not "stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."

The emotional Colin wrote the following on his Instagram wall after his visit:

"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."

Colin is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. Kaepernick played collegiate football at the University of Nevada where he was named the Western Athletic Offensive Player of the Year twice and was the Most Valuable Player of the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl.

Kaepernick was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter

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