Book Review: "Change the Game" by Colin Kaepernick

4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

Change the Game is a middle-grade graphic novel by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Even if you aren’t an avid sports follower, you may remember the huge political controversy raised when Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem as a protest against systemic racism and oppression. I was intrigued to see that Kaepernick had started a publishing outfit to go along with his off the field activism and had to check out Change the Game.

For the audience this graphic novel is purporting to target, I found the material satisfyingly challenging when it comes to confronting everyday racism and the general travails of growing up and trying to pick a path in life. (Gosh, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up, and I’m close to thirty years old!)

The graphic novel follows Kaepernick’s upbringing in a small town with a mostly white population. He describes how he was set on the path of future college then MLB baseball player, but increasingly found himself more attracted towards football in his high school years. Kaepernick takes a risk and bets on football, even though his parents and most of the town are pressuring him to sign-on to a baseball contract instead.

Notwithstanding the pressure Kaepernick feels to take the baseball path, he deals with plenty of racism in his small town. Afro and corn-row hairstyles are frowned upon as “unprofessional”—as Kaepernick’s father puts it. A man walks around town wearing a Confederate flag hat, a known symbol of a defeated nation that stood for slavery and was willing to break up the Union to do so. Those are a few examples.

Colin is upset that his parents and most of the town are oblivious when it comes to racism and discrimination, when he can see examples abound all around him. Racism can be both overt and more subtle but doesn’t change the fact that it’s still discrimination. (You’re privileged when you don’t really have to think about race or racism, and it’s worth noticing the ways in which society has these power imbalances and racist attitudes built in, in order to help change them.)

Being a teenager is hard enough—not only are you reckoning with your identity and who you are, questioning your parents and starting to see them as fallible human beings, but having to deal with people who see you as less-than or dangerous…I don’t blame Kaepernick for the frustration and anger he has to work through here. We see examples throughout Change the Game where Kaepernick stands up not only for himself, but for others.

Overall, Change the Game is a thoughtful graphic novel that tackles a difficult subject with grace and compassion. Worth the read, I think!

Happy reading!

--BookOwl