Colin Kaepernick will publish a memoir later this year, a decade after his legacy-defining protest.
Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp announced plans to release "The Perilous Fight" on Sept. 15. The memoir will be published nearly 10 years after the former NFL quarterback was first spotted kneeling during the national anthem to bring attention to racial injustice and police brutality.
Legacy Lit will publish hardcover and eBook editions of "The Perilous Fight" later this year. Kaepernick will also narrate an audiobook available exclusively on Audible.
"In THE PERILOUS FIGHT, Kaepernick delivers his story with the same unflinching conviction that defined the moment the world watched," the press release said. "Equal parts memoir and manifesto, it traces the off-the-field battles that turned a single act of protest into a movement that changed American sports and culture forever. This is the story of a man who became someone the moment demanded. It is a story about identity, sacrifice, and the cost of courage. And it is, ultimately, a story about all of us and the future we are still fighting to build."
More on Kaepernick's upcoming book
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Kaepernick took the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl as an explosive dual-threat quarterback, but he made his last NFL appearance on Jan. 1, 2017. He accused the league of conspiring not to sign him because of his protest in a collusion grievance settled in 2019.
The 38-year-old wanted to tell his story and explain what led him to kneel at the risk of his career.
"People saw the moment," Kaepernick said. "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. 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. It was the result of years of becoming. And what came after taught me the most important truth: this fight has never belonged to one person. It belongs to all of us. We fight for each other. We build with each other. We must fight for justice and equity with the courage and clarity this moment demands. That is how we build a future worth fighting for."
