Protesters Just Got 'Substantial' Boost From Colin Kaepernick

NFL free agent's charity to help pay legal costs for those who broke curfew in Minnesota, elsewhere
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2020 8:00 AM CDT
Kaepernick Gives 'Substantial Sum' for Protesters' Defense
In this Nov. 16, 2019, file photo, Colin Kaepernick arrives for a workout for NFL football scouts and media in Riverdale, Ga.   (AP Photo/Todd Kirkland, File)

Soon after protests over the killing of George Floyd started sweeping the nation, Colin Kaepernick set up the Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative, via his charity, to coordinate "with top defense lawyers and civil rights lawyers nationwide to provide legal resources for those in need." Now, per the Star Tribune, that fund has donated a "substantial sum" to attorneys in Minnesota and elsewhere in the US to help cover the legal costs for protesters who otherwise may have trouble paying. Although the fund's website doesn't say how much money has been raised, Ben Meiselas, a Los Angeles attorney who's been repping Kaepernick, says it has been "a significant undertaking with some of the top legal professionals," per the AP.

"When there is an injustice within our community, it is our legal right to address it, by any means necessary," the fund's site reads. The Star Tribune notes that in Minneapolis and St. Paul alone, 100 or so people were charged with violating an emergency curfew imposed by Gov. Tim Walz. Those with pending charges face up to 90 days behind bars or fines of up to $1,000. "I'm so unbelievably grateful and really excited that there is an organization that does that and that people don't have to be afraid to go out and protest injustice," one woman arrested for demonstrating in Hennepin County tells the paper. (More Colin Kaepernick stories.)

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