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Hayes: Kaepernick is a better citizen than many of us

In the 2012 U.S. presidential election, 43 percent of eligible citizens failed to exercise their right and duty to vote. That failure rate rose to 64 percent in the midterm elections of 2014, the lowest rate since 1942, when the country was engaged in World War II.

Marcus Hayes: Colin Kaepernick is doing what any American citizen could do.
Marcus Hayes: Colin Kaepernick is doing what any American citizen could do.Read moreASSOCIATED PRESS

In the 2012 U.S. presidential election, 43 percent of eligible citizens failed to exercise their right and duty to vote. That failure rate rose to 64 percent in the midterm elections of 2014, the lowest rate since 1942, when the country was engaged in World War II.

Recent data suggest that only 25 percent of citizens called for jury duty bother to show up.

Americans say they are dissatisfied with the shenanigans of Congress, but polls show that only about 25 percent can name both of their state's senators and that fewer than half know who represents them in the House of Representatives.

For a nation full of self-righteous experts on patriotism and nationalistic responsibilities, this seems like pretty poor citizenship. Sitting out the national anthem for a righteous cause? That is excellent citizenship.

You might argue that Colin Kaepernick's sit-down protests during the 49ers' last three preseason games lacked impact and foresight. You cannot, however, argue that the protests were un-American. If you believe Kaepernick has no right to sit out the anthem because he thinks state-endorsed oppression of black males has caused a crisis, then you align yourself with free-speech haters Kim-Jong Un and Robert Mugabe, fascists of the first order. This is not North Korea, and it is not Zimbabwe.

Kaepernick's acts are the American spirit distilled.

How many of us would have the courage to risk half of our careers' lifespan on what might ultimately be a quixotic quest? How many of us feel strongly enough to risk anything at all?

What he is doing and saying is the essence of freedom.

Granted, not every measure of activism or patriotism or freedom of expression is equal, or even parallel. But it's all part of the same conversation, isn't it? Is this not a nation composed of free men and women doing what they think is best to govern themselves; what they think is right; what they think is just?

This little essay probably won't convince entrenched zealots, since zealots usually constitute the lunatic fringe, but it might make the saner among us step back and consider what's actually happening.

We've witnessed a broad spectrum of entertainingly absurd reactions. Former NFL safety Rodney Harrison on Tuesday raised the irrelevant point about Kaepernick's heritage; then he claimed he didn't know that Kap is half-black, as if whites aren't allowed to protest for black causes.

Jay Gruden swore he would force his players to stand; a brutish declaration, demeaning and probably illegal, since all of his players' actions and all disciplinary measures are collectively bargained. Then again, Gruden coaches a team with a racist nickname for an odious owner in, of all places, the nation's capital. If you live in Bizarro World, then you say Bizarro things.

Kaepernick might one day regret that his protest took this form; hopefully not, because it is sincere. After decades of silent indifference from Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Derek Jeter, the species "Insulated Superstar" has realized that its voice matters more than the whim of a sponsor, or perhaps even the tolerance of an employer.

"If they take football away, if they take my endorsements from me, I (still) know what I stood up for is right," Kaepernick said.

Drew Rosenhaus, a high-profile agent for many players, told CNBC he expects current deals with Nike, MusclePharm and Beats by Dre to stand by Kap, as they should.

Don't disregard the timing of the issue, either. It is the sort of story magnified by the sparseness of other relevant events; the dog days of baseball, the run-up to football, the post-Olympic hangover. When the NFL and NCAA football seasons begin in earnest and when the pennant races heat up, the silent protest of a backup quarterback on a bad team will fade like a supernova.

Or maybe not. Kaepernick could abandon this strategy and adapt a more rational approach; effect more tangible change with other, less controversial methods. Perhaps he could form a coalition of athletes who would seek dialogue with actual police officers, some of whom seem inured to the effect their overly brutal methods have on the people they have sworn to serve and protect.

It's one thing for NBA and NFL stars to sit out the anthem and speak out at the ESPYs. It would be something much different for each of them to visit a precinct in the cities that raised them or the cities that pay them.

Kaepernick is a 28-year-old, two-sport phenom; a mixed-race superstar born into poverty, given up for adoption and raised by a pleasant family. He became an excellent student with strong religious convictions that manifest themselves in skin ink; his post-TD celebration involves him kissing the Bible-verse tats on his biceps. That's a pretty non-linear background, one that makes for a uniquely complex individual.

He is, in fact, a splendid amalgam of a 21st-century American, however deluded and flawed.

It is most startling that his acts of protest seem completely independent (other players have considered joining him) and that he seems indifferent to the reaction.

The NFL and the 49ers quickly announced that Kaepernick had broken no rule; certainly, he broke no law. He has just broken with tradition, which is the right of every American.

His coach, Chip Kelly, who is smart, knows this: "It's his right as a citizen . . . It's not my right to tell him to not do something."

It's not your right, either.

Of course, in this era of outsized outrage and ill-informed blowhards, few bother to play by Kelly's common-sense rules. Kaepernick did not seek to disrespect the flag, or what it stands for, or those who fought to preserve this more perfect union. He sought to express his displeasure with the imperfection of the union.

That is why wars, hot and cold, were fought; to guarantee Kaepernbick the right to protest to raise awareness about injustice.

His protest was a sublime act of citizenship.

And, by the way: So far, it has worked.

Now, go vote.

@inkstainedretch