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Colin Kaepernick is launching an initiative through his Know Your Rights Camp that will offer free, secondary autopsies to those whose death is "police-related."
On Wednesday (February 23), the former NFL quarterback announced the initiative on KYRC's website, which detailed the services offered, including "the completion of a second autopsy, disclosure of preliminary findings, and issuance of the final autopsy report."
The initiative is in collaboration with a team of board-certified pathologists, who "will actively seek the truth to provide the victims' families with the most medically sound cause of death."
“We know that the prison industrial complex, which includes police and policing, strives to protect and serve its interests at all costs,” Kaepernick told the Associated Press. “The Autopsy Initiative is one important step toward ensuring that family members have access to accurate and forensically verifiable information about the cause of death of their loved one in their time of need.”
As noted by the AP, the purpose of the initiative is to "eliminate any concerns from the originally given autopsy, ensuring that it was conducted without any biases or errors and that any evidence wasn't manipulated — giving the victim's family a clear picture of what happened."
Kaepernick hasn't played in the NFL since the 2016 season — the same season he began his National Anthem protests to bring awareness to police brutality, and a number of social injustices faced by Black Americans.
Less than a year after his first silent protest, the quarterback, who led the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2013, became a free agent with no team offering him a contract for the 2017 season. Kap then filed a grievance against the league, claiming team owners colluded to keep him from playing because of his refusal to stand during the National Anthem.
After a two-year battle, he settled his case against the league in 2019.
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