He had the easiest possible avenue to affect actual change and he did nothing with it . Kaepernick is not the same as Tommie Smith and John Carlos who made their gesture in the shadow of apartheid in South Africa and were members of the OPHR , which had definable and realistic goals and methods . Also on the podium with them was White Australian Peter Norman who was also wearing an OPHR badge and who actually lent the other gentlemen his pair of gloves for the salute that ' s why one is a left and one is a right . None of which fits with kaepernick who couldn ' t even be bothered to vote . He could be , and probably is sincere , but he ' s so completely ineffectual and apparently vain that he has done more harm than good by making the whole cause look as shallow as him .