COLIN KAEPERNICK provided an insight into what it’s like to take a stand — or perhaps more accurately a knee — in modern sport on Tuesday.

In the midst of rising anger across the US at the impunity afforded police officers who shoot dead black people, the American footballer was one of many who took the protests off the street and onto the sports field.

Explaining his decision to kneel during a preseason game this August, he said: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

The 49ers quarterback has faced both harsh criticism and support for his protest, saying the reaction on the road has displayed a “very evident” racial divide across the US.

“It shows the different cultures and different beliefs throughout this country,” he said. “And it also makes it very evident that there’s a different in perspective between white America and black America.”

Kaepernick said: “Atlanta was somewhere where I had a lot of support, a lot of people saying they agree with what I’m doing, support it and are happy that I did it and to keep going and to stay strong.

“And there’s other places where the fans don’t agree as much. Buffalo in particular was one where that was very evident.

“What I heard, things that I saw after the fact as far as in the parking lot, T-shirts, all of those things. It was very evident that this was something that they don’t agree with, which to me I don’t understand.”

Kaepernick made his first start of the season in Buffalo on October 16 and was greeted with hostility, which was in stark contrast to the support he received in Atlanta over the weekend, where people “went out of their way” to thank him for his public stance on racial inequality.

But he hasn’t faced the fury alone, with teammates Eli Harold and Eric Reid deciding to kneel alongside him.

Kaepernick said: “To have the ability to really recognise what’s going on, how it not only affects them, but it affects their families and affects other people that look like them is something that’s very powerful and I’m very happy to have teammates like that, that have that type of character, that have those type of ethics and humanity.”

Linebacker Harold said he’s received racially charged criticism on social media and has been accused of disrespecting the military. He has friends and family members in the armed forces, who have his support.

Harold said: “I feel like a lot of people should open their eyes and at least just try to hear [Kaepernick’s] message and see what he’s really trying to do.”

Kaepernick is planning to donate $1 million to charitable causes across the country supporting his message over the coming months.

CLAUDIA HILL