Photographs posted to social media on Thursday showed a visit to Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, by Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who sparked the activist effort by professional athletes to kneel during Star Spangled Banner during professional sporting events that began in 2016.
The Tennessee Star also learned that Kaepernick spoke to Nashville school administrators on Thursday, and a staff member at the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Martin Professional Development Center confirmed Kaepernick visited the facility.
MNPS did not respond prior to publication to a request for comment from The Star, which sought clarity on the topics Kaepernick discussed with administrators, but Kaepernick was recently described as a founder of the new artificial intelligence (AI) product, Lumi, which ABC 7 News reported is designed to improve student literacy.
“It can help ask questions to get those ideas to come to life for you to explore areas that you don’t know, to explore and one of the things that we often talk about is – we don’t know what we don’t know,” he told the San Francisco television station last month.
The Lumi website also includes a letter written by Kaepernick, explaining the AI was created as a tool to “support, not replace,” human writers. Kaepernick wrote, “Our mission is simple: help every student find their voice, to write with purpose, express themselves, and take pride in their ideas.”
At least one photo from Kaepernick’s visit to Nashville, posted to Facebook, included a Lumi promotional backdrop.
In addition to his AI venture, Kaepernick also founded Know Your Rights Camp (KYRC) in 2016, which describes its mission as advancing, “liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization, and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders.”
The nonprofit has notably published “Black and White: The Kaepernick Curriculum,” which is accompanied by the 2021 Netflix miniseries, “Colin in Black & White.” An 85-page teaching guide was also released to assist with adopting the curriculum for classroom use.
Kaepernick’s nonprofit also receives 100 percent of the proceeds generated through his children’s book, “We Are Free, You & Me.” The book is published by Scholastic, whose website states it has been a leading publisher of educational literature for over a century.
Other photos posted to social media showed Kaepernick inside the Antioch High School, including images posted by Breion Dixon (pictured above with Kaepernick), the Outreach Coordinator for Tennessee Caregiver Coalition, who wrote that he was, “Grateful to stand alongside Colin Kaepernick” in “the school and community that helped shape me.”
A third post to Facebook by former Tennessee State University football player Calvin Bryant, who served 10 years in prison for a drug conviction and wrote a book after his early release, revealed that Kaepernick met with part of the school’s athletics department.
The former professional athlete’s visit to the Nashville school came on the one-year anniversary of the Antioch High School shooting, which saw a 17-year-old kill another student and injure a third before taking his own life. Lawsuits have accused the school district and its administrators of ignoring red flags expressed by the killer and inadequately responding to the shooting.
J.C. Bowman, the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, told The Star that he questioned the appropriateness of Kaepernick’s meeting.
“As a staunch defender of our public schools in Tennessee, I’m absolutely bewildered at the decision of a school district to invite Colin Kaepernick to engage with MNPS administrators and students,” said Bowman. “Let’s be clear: Kaepernick had his moment in the NFL, but his career ended back in 2016. So why on earth does he hold any relevance for today’s students, many of whom likely don’t even know who he is?”
Bowman also said that Kaepernick should follow established procedures if he visited MNPS to offer curricula on behalf of his nonprofit, or to sell the use of his company’s AI product.
“I’m all ears if he can demonstrate that his so-called education product will actually enhance reading, writing, or arithmetic in MNPS schools. Until then, I’m skeptical, to say the least,” said Bowman of Lumi.
He told The Star, “Let’s not overlook the optics here. What kind of message is MNPS sending by hosting Kaepernick on the anniversary of the tragic Antioch High School shooting? This day should have been dedicated to honoring Josselin Corea Escalante, the young woman whose life was taken too soon.”
Bowman added that MNPS should disclose whether the district used taxpayer money “to facilitate Kaepernick’s appearance,” calling it “accountability” for the district.
Nashville police said on Wednesday that the killer “idolized mass murderers around the world,” who he called “saints,” and sought to emulate. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said last year that he was motivated by an extremist online nihilism cult.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Colin Kaepernick and Breion Dixon” by Brieon Dixon.
Whoever allowed this Marxist race-baiter to appear in our schools should be fired.
What a joke. We should not be surprised from Metro School System. Things like this is the reason that I do not live in Davidson County any longer.