San Francisco 49ers linebacker Eli Harold (58), quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) and free safety Eric Reid (35) kneel in protest during the playing of the national anthem before a NFL game in 2016. (USA TODAY Sports)
A large Colin Kaepernick mural has been destroyed in Atlanta, host of this year’s Super Bowl.
The abandoned building with the outdoor mural was torn down this week as the city was getting ready for the big game. Now the artist who painted it is mourning the loss.
“I just happened to be driving by when they were doing it, and it took a minute for me to mentally recognize that it was happening,” Fabian Williams told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“Symbols matter, man,” he said. “You destroyed the whole building it was on? If I were an interpreter of performance art, what message would you take from that?”
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NFL players joined Kaepernick after he took a knee in 2016 during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. The ensuing protests sparked national controversy and tweets of outrage from President Trump.
The union representing NFL players has brought a lawsuit accusing team owners of blackballing Kaepernick, who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2017.
The mural showed Kaepernick in an Atlanta Falcons uniform.
“I thought Atlanta, because of our civil rights history, would be a perfect place for him,” Williams, who is also known as the Occasional Superstar, told the paper.
The demolition also destroyed another mural that Williams painted on the same wall, featuring Muhammad Ali.
The owner of the building could not be reached for comment, according to the paper.
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