Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
This week The New York Times examine the awakening of NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick. Photo: AFP
The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick, by John Branch, The New York Times
‘“The actual point of protest is to disrupt how we move about our daily lives,” Wade Davis, a former professional football player and a black activist who often works with athletes, said in an interview last week. “What Kaepernick did was disrupt one of our most treasured sports. Whether you agree with his tactics or not is one type of conversation. The larger conversation is what he is protesting about. The fact that so many don’t want to have that specific conversation speaks to the fact that they know what is happening in America is beyond tragic.”’
The First White President, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
“The idea of acceptance frustrates the left. The left would much rather have a discussion about class struggles, which might entice the white working masses, instead of about the racist struggles that those same masses have historically been the agents and beneficiaries of. Moreover, to accept that whiteness brought us Donald Trump is to accept whiteness as an existential danger to the country and the world. But if the broad and remarkable white support for Donald Trump can be reduced to the righteous anger of a noble class of smallville firefighters and evangelicals, mocked by Brooklyn hipsters and womanist professors into voting against their interests, then the threat of racism and whiteness, the threat of the heirloom, can be dismissed. Consciences can be eased; no deeper existential reckoning is required.”
‘Why do I have to put up with this shit?’ Women journalists in NZ share their stories of online abuse, by Charlotte Graham, The Spinoff
“It was believed to be the first all-female show in The Panel’s history and the listeners noticed. While some enjoyed the change, others took issue. “A bloody teenage gigglefest,” texted one listener. “We don’t need a bunch of old girls chewing the fat and gossiping,” said another. “God you women can talk some f**ken bullshit,” Mike texted. None of those who took issue with the gender of those fronting the show mentioned any particular content or opinion that angered them – just who was doing the talking.”
This is for Boston, by Isaiah Thomas, The Player’s Tribune
“It’s not that I don’t understand it. Of course I get it: This is a business. Danny is a businessman, and he made a business move. I don’t agree with it, just personally, and I don’t think the Boston Celtics got better by making this trade. But that’s not my job. That’s Danny’s. And it’s a tough job, and he’s been really good at it. But at the end of the day, these deals just come down to one thing: business. So it’s no hard feelings on that end. I’m a grown man, and I know what I got into when I joined this league — and so far it’s been more blessings than curses. I’m not sitting here, writing this, because I feel I was wronged. I wasn’t wronged. It was Boston’s right to trade me.”
Touring the Children’s Museum With Asahd Khaled, the Busiest Baby in Hip-Hop, by Allison P. Davies, The Cut
“Once he’s dressed, giraffe binky dangling from his mouth like one more piece of bling, it’s time to tour the museum, along with Asahd’s father, a late arrival with his own entourage in tow. We head — all of us, publicists, friends, a reporter from Forbes, a few flat-brimmed-hat dudes with no obvious tasks — to a replica Oval Office desk, which is naturally the museum’s most Instagrammed spot. Two staffers are blocking other children from approaching the tiny replica of the president’s desk, where Asahd is happily seated with cameras flashing. Two little girls keep saying, “Excuse me. I’d like a turn.”’
Kyle Maclachlan Flirts with the Darkness, by Tyler Coates, Esquire
“I bring up the moment when Mr. C murders his son, Richard Horne, steering him on top of a rock formation and watching as he is electrocuted. Mr. C shows no sign of empathy—that's in his nature, of course. But it was hard for MacLachlan to pull off. "Of all the things David had me do, that was the worst. But it's true to the character. As an actor, I want to show some humanity. It's so hard to be absolute." I can tell, through the calm and measured quality of the good-natured man who sits before me, that diving into the depths of his own potential dark side was no easy mission.”
The Trials of a Muslim Cop, by Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker
“Once, Hadid said, after his team interviewed a parolee at his home in Queens, a detective filed a debriefing report that drew attention to an Arabic video, “The Message,” resting on the man’s television stand. The movie, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1978, chronicles the birth of Islam and stars Anthony Quinn. “It’s a beautiful movie,” Hadid told the detective, laughing. “What’s the big deal?” The detective told him that the movie is about Muslims killing one another. “I have the movie,” Hadid said. “You should interrogate me.”’