Ten years after his controversial protest made headlines across America, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is ready to tell his complete story in a forthcoming memoir.
The ex-San Francisco 49ers player has finished writing “The Perilous Fight,” scheduled for release on September 15 through Legacy Lit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. The publication date falls nearly a decade after Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem before a preseason matchup, sparking a nationwide conversation about police brutality and racial injustice that divided fans, team executives, and political figures.
The 38-year-old athlete, who hasn’t appeared on an NFL roster since the 2016 season, explained his motivation for writing the book was to provide background on the experiences that shaped his decision to protest. Initially, Kaepernick had chosen to sit during the anthem before switching to kneeling.
“People saw the moment. But they didn’t see the years that made it possible: the questions about who I was; the injustices I could no longer ignore; the voices of those who came before me that I carried into that stadium,” Kaepernick stated in Tuesday’s announcement. “That journey, from a Black kid navigating an identity the world didn’t always make space for, to an athlete who realized the game was bigger than football, shaped everything. When I took a knee, it wasn’t a sudden act.”
The publisher describes the upcoming release as part personal story, part call to action, chronicling “the off-the-field battles that turned a single act of protest into a movement that changed American sports and culture forever.” An audiobook version, read by Kaepernick himself, will be available exclusively through Audible.
During his NFL career spanning six seasons with San Francisco, Kaepernick guided the team to Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, though they fell to Baltimore 34-31. Beyond football, he has remained active in social justice advocacy, established his own publishing company, and authored children’s books including “We Are Free, You & Me” and the graphic novel “Change the Game.”
