Nate Boyer, the Green Beret who stood beside Kaepernick: ‘The vitriol was more disrespectful than the protest’

Nate Boyer was stunned. The former NFL long snapper and United States Army Green Beret had big plans for his MVP (Merging Vets and Players) foundation, an organization that helps veterans and NFL players address the challenges that await once they take the uniform off for good. MVP was all set for a season-long college football activation tour thanks to a five-figure sponsorship from a well-known brand that happens to be one of the NFL’s longstanding partners. Boyer and his team were prepping for their trip to Columbus for Ohio State’s home opener. Everything was ready to go. Thousands in upfront costs had been spent. Then the company pulled out.

Related: Colin Kaepernick knelt 10 years ago. America responded with a clear warning to Black people | Howard Bryant

“They suddenly stopped replying to emails,” Boyer says. “Finally, on that Thursday, when I was at the airport en route, I called our point person, also a veteran, who begrudgingly told me what was going on.”

It turns out the company’s legal department discovered that Boyer had met with Colin Kaepernick when the former 49ers quarterback began protesting during the national anthem. When Boyer attempted to get a deeper explanation from the company, he was ghosted.

This happened last August, nine years after Kaepernick’s protests.

“I just couldn’t believe that all those years later there were still people upset about something I was such a small part of that had nothing but intentions of unity and understanding,” Boyer says.

***

“What the heck? Why is he protesting the anthem?” That was Boyer’s first reaction when he saw Kaepernick sitting on the bench during a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers in August 2016. For a second, Boyer – who had been part of the Seahawks in 2015 after six years in the military – bought into the initial buzz that Kaepernick was specifically protesting the anthem and disrespecting the American flag.

He was disappointed because, as a former Green Beret, the flag represented to him honor, sacrifice, and freedom. But Boyer also happened to be a lifelong 49ers fan, and Kaepernick was his favorite player at the time.

“He brought us out of a time of mediocrity as far as football goes,” he says. Adding to Boyer’s conflicting feelings was the fact that Kaepernick had donated an inscribed football to Boyer’s MVP foundation with the message, “God Bless Our Troops.” The narrative that Kaepernick was somehow anti-military didn’t really make sense to Boyer.

Then Boyer did something increasingly rare in modern times. He tabled his snap judgment and listened to the full 18-minute interview Kaepernick gave explaining the reasons for his protest.

“He talks about a lot of things, and one of the things he mentioned was that he had a lot of support for people in the military,” Boyer says. “And then he said, ‘I’m not going to stand for the flag of a country that oppresses people of color.’ He just felt that we were not living up to the promises of what the flag was supposed to represent. I didn’t necessarily disagree with that.”

Boyer says he understood Kaepernick’s sentiments when the quarterback 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.”

And while Boyer acknowledged an anthem protest could hurt his feelings, he was proud to have taken the oath to defend an American’s right to freedom of speech. At the time, Boyer viewed Kaepernick’s act as a chance to have a balanced societal discourse.

“I thought it was potentially a pretty powerful thing and something that could really bring people together,” he says.

Unfortunately, Boyer’s hopes for unity did not come to fruition.

The story quickly became a lightning rod, culturally and politically. Boyer, with his unique military and football experience, was asked to join roundtable conversations on several major networks. Certain that they had a preconceived notion of his views, Boyer turned them down.

“We just assume if somebody wears a certain uniform or is a certain color, that they feel a certain way. That just wasn’t true,” he says.

Instead Boyer, who proudly considers himself apolitical, wrote an open letter in the Army Times sharing his nuanced opinion of Kaepernick’s protest. He woke up to a full mailbox, endless texts and social media messages. Boyer calls his letter a reasonable stance that was intended “not for the 10% of people on both ends of the fringes, but for the 80% of us that usually don’t have a voice.”

Among the multitude of people who read Boyer’s open letter was Kaepernick, who was suddenly the most prominent NFL player in the world. Boyer was in the NFL Network green room when he received a call from an unknown number which he serendipitously picked up. It was a representative from Kaepernick’s agency informing him that the quarterback had requested to meet with him in San Diego ahead of the 49ers preseason game the next day.

Once in San Diego, Boyer was shepherded into the lobby of the 49ers’ team hotel where he chatted with Kaepernick for about 90 minutes. 49ers safety Eric Reid, who was aligned with Kaepernick’s stance, was also in attendance.

Boyer says that the three of them were nervous given the new and fiery nature of the situation. But he says they were comfortable fast and that it was ultimately like we were talking in a locker room.

Boyer relishes the complexity of the conversation. Kaepernick and Reid said they didn’t want to stand for the anthem until there was real change in America. When pressed by Boyer on what change looks like, they said they wanted to see a day when zero people of color being unfairly targeted. Boyer talked about how he wanted zero military suicides each day instead of the current number of 22. Neither objective was likely to be achieved anytime soon but they agreed that it was important to try.

It was an extremely respectful conversation from Boyer’s perspective, and he especially appreciated the question that changed everything. Kaepernick asked if there was a way he and Reid could protest and not offend people in the military.

“I was like, no. I think no matter what, no matter what you do, some people are gonna be offended because we’re a very diverse microcosm,” Boyer says. “That’s when I told him that sitting on the bench by himself wasn’t the most inspiring look and the only other thing that maybe made sense logistically was to take a knee.”

Boyer pointed out the respect and symbolism synonymous with kneeling. People kneel to pray. They kneel to propose marriage. Boyer says Kaepernick and Reid nodded as he was talking and decided that taking a knee was the perfect compromise (Kaepernick says kneeling was Reid’s idea and Boyer endorsed it).

They briefly talked about Boyer taking a knee beside them during the 49ers-Chargers game, but Boyer said he felt more comfortable standing next to them in support.

The military fanfare was particularly strong that night. After all, San Diego is home to one of the country’s largest military communities. The pregame festivities included a flyover with Navy Seals parachuting on to the field. A Black member of the Navy sang the anthem. And there was Boyer standing next to the kneeling Kaepernick and Reid in a show of support that he considered patriotic.

Then came the deafening boos. A stunned and frustrated Boyer couldn’t believe a crowd would boo during the anthem because a couple of guys were kneeling for social justice.

“That was just crazy to me,” he said. “I understand not being on board with it, but I didn’t understand the vitriol. It was sad and I thought that was way more disrespectful than any protests.”

Discourse about the protests quickly became omnipresent. Boyer heard from all sides. One of his military buddies told Boyer he had read his letter in the Army Times and was in support even though one of their brothers had just returned from battle, his coffin draped in the American flag. Boyer’s friend said he was filled with rage at anybody that disrespects the flag. But he didn’t think Kaepernick’s intent was to disrespect it at all.

Another military brother, an amputee, told Boyer, “Even though I don’t have legs, I’ll stand with enough pride for both of us.”

Then there was a veteran who had been shot a couple of times and called Boyer, “a disgrace to the Green Berets.” This is a man Boyer says he looked up to and still does to this day. Given his disappointment with some of the reactions he received, Boyer could only imagine what was coming for Kaepernick.

Kaepernick received a level of animosity rarely seen in America. Donald Trump stoked the flames on a daily basis, spreading the black or white notion that Kaepernick’s protests were solely about disrespecting the military and that the quarterback was un-American. The unity that Boyer hoped for was nowhere in sight.

***

Boyer and Kaepernick remained in touch for several months after their first meeting. Nothing traumatic, just regular check-ins with Boyer offering support. Kaepernick’s football career, meanwhile, quickly took a nosedive and he never played in the league again after the 2016 season. Boyer is unwilling to say Kaepernick was blackballed by the league, a notion that became a common narrative.

“It’s not that cut and dry,” he said. Boyer points out that after Kaepernick left the 49ers, Denver gave him a look. Baltimore and Seattle supposedly considered him for their rosters.

In fact, Boyer says the Seahawks reached out to him for a scouting report. He told them that he thought Kaepernick was a good guy and genuine. He also shared how he appreciated that Kaepernick (along with Reid) did the 22 push-up challenge to raise awareness for the 22 veterans who take their lives on a daily basis.

“I’m not sure the reason why it didn’t work out. Who knows?,” Boyer says of Kaepernick’s career. “Could have been totally football related. I have no idea. I know he had some injuries and stuff like that. I would imagine there’s probably certain politics that did play a role as well.”

An NFL coach later told Boyer why his team decided to steer clear of Kaepernick. He said Kaepernick had lost a step and wasn’t the same player that took the 49ers to the Super Bowl at the end of the 2012 season. But that was just part of the coach’s rationale.

He told Boyer, “If we bring him in to be the backup, and all of a sudden, you got all these people who maybe they’re fans, maybe they’re not, are saying, ‘Why don’t you start Kaepernick?’ Why don’t you give him a chance?’ The starting quarterback has one bad game, and everyone’s up in arms, and then you’re potentially dividing the locker room. It quickly becomes a circus.”

Kaepernick’s final NFL game was on 1 January 2017, against Boyer’s former team, the Seahawks. He became immersed in social justice causes, including his own Know Your Rights Camp, while suing the NFL for collusion. The case was settled in 2019.

Meanwhile, Boyer’s MVP foundation is going strong and he’s added the title of film-maker to his unique resume. Boyer is working on a D-day documentary about a 102-year-old Black soldier whose grandparents were born into slavery.

Though Boyer’s dialogue with Kaepernick only lasted a few months, they will forever be entwined as evidenced by the company that pulled its sponsorship just a year ago.

Despite the continued hostility by some, Boyer is grateful for the link with Kaepernick and all the intellectual powerhouses such as Dr Harry Edwards, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, he’s met along the way.

Boyer hopes that historians will view Kaepernick’s protest as an act of patriotism and that his legacy will be taught through a balanced lens.

“I hope they will think about being courageous and doing the right thing, even when it’s not popular, and even when you know that a lot of people are going to be upset with you,” he says. “As long as you do it, whatever you do, do it with utmost respect, and try to honor those people that you know are going to disagree with you.”

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