Colin Kaepernick, who has a production deal with Disney, is executive producing a new three-part docuseries revolving around a town where the people in power reportedly can’t be trusted.
“Killing County,” to be featured as part of ABC News Studios’ collaboration with Kaepernick Media, takes place in Bakersfield and is narrated by André Holland. It tells the tale of the Ramirez family, who lose a loved one in a hotel shooting and proceed to search for answers.
According to Deadline, the show asks, “Who do you turn to when the ones who are supposed to serve and protect you are the ones you can’t trust?”
“Raising the question: who do you turn to when the ones who are supposed to serve and protect you are the ones you can’t trust?” The Wrap echoed.
It is not clear if it is the police in the series who are the ones “who are supposed to serve and protect you are the ones you can’t trust.” But Kaepernick has mocked police before, including when he wore socks with policemen depicted as pigs.
The former NFL quarterback took a lot of criticism for his refusal to stand for the national anthem back in 2016 over complaints of racism, including pushback from those who have served in law enforcement.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said at the time. “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.”
In August 2016, in an open letter posted on Facebook addressed to Kaepernick, one retired police officer from Norfolk, Massachusetts wrote an eloquent yet blistering response.
Chris Amos started by noting he was the very kind of police officer Kaepernick had bemoaned; he had shot and killed a young black male and received pay while on leave afterward. He wrote that he had been forced to undergo rehab after being shot from two feet away in the chest and thigh.
“I have buried 7 friends, killed in the line of duty and three others who have committed suicide,” Amos noted. “I have attended more funerals than I care to remember of neighboring departments who have lost officers in the line of duty, during my career. Law Enforcement Officers with different backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences united by their willingness to answer the call to protect and serve their fellow citizens.”
“And so whether you stand or sit during the National Anthem means very little to me. As for me and the men and women on whose team I was privileged to serve, we will put on our ballistic vests, badge, and gun, kiss our loved ones goodbye, for some tragically for the last time, and out into a shift of uncertainty we will go,” he concluded. “We will continue to protect and continue to serve and we will be standing at attention Colin, not just for the playing of our National Anthem, but far more importantly for the playing of Taps.”