Colin Kaepernick releasing children’s book inspired by ‘deeply personal’ story
RIVERDALE, GA - NOVEMBER 16: Colin Kaepernick looks on during his NFL workout held at Charles R Drew high school on November 16, 2019 in Riverdale, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Colin Kaepernick is set to release a children’s book next year that he said is based on a "deeply personal" event from his childhood.
The book, called "I Color Myself Different," will be published in April 2022.
The story is based on a significant childhood memory of when Kaepernick, 33, first documented that he was different from his adopted White family, according to an announcement from Scholastic and Kaepernick Publishing, which the former NFL quarterback founded in 2019.
When Kaepernick was in kindergarten, he remembers putting down the yellow crayon he had been using to draw his family and picking up the brown crayon for himself.
"This moment crystallized for him the differences marked by his adoption, and how acknowledging those distinctions could encourage us all to be more accepting of ourselves and each other," a press release said.
"This story is deeply personal to me, and inspired by real events in my life. I hope that it honors the courage and bravery of young people everywhere by encouraging them to live with authenticity and purpose," said Kaepernick.
Kaepernick, who was a member of the San Francisco 49ers, has not played in the NFL since 2016, after he knelt at games during "The Star Spangled Banner" to protest racial injustice and police treatment of Black people.
Since then, he has founded and helped fund three organizations — Know Your Rights Camp, Ra Vision Media and Kaepernick Publishing — that together work to advance the liberation of Black and Brown people through storytelling, systems change and political education.
Several other books are set to be published from Kaepernick Publishing, including its first title, "Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future without Policing & Prisons," on October 12, 2021.
This story was reported from Detroit. The Associated Press contributed.