On the eve of Super Bowl LIII, a solitary mural to Colin Kaepernick is no more.
Artist Fabian Williams, who painted the mural of Kaepernick standing next to Muhammad Ali on the side of an abandoned building on the corner of Fair Street and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard, said the building was torn down this week.
“I just happened to be driving by when they were doing it and it took a minute for me to mentally recognize that it was happening,” Williams said. “Symbols matter man. You destroyed the whole building it was on? If I were an interpreter of performance art, what message would you take from that?”
Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, launched a protest movement in 2016 when he began kneeling during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality toward black men. Several players followed Kaepernick’s lead, which even got the attention of President Trump.
Kaepernick hasn’t played in the league since 2017 and there’s a pending National Football League Players Association lawsuit against the league, alleging that team owners, influenced by President Donald Trump, conspired against him.
