San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sees the killing of Alton Sterling, who was shot dead by police on Tuesday night, as a modern extension of lynching.
Posting a video of the exchange between the police and Sterling, Kaepernick called out the men who took Sterling down to the ground, pinned him and then shot him dead.
“This is what lynchings look like in 2016! Another murder in the streets because the color of a man’s skin, at the hands of the people who they say will protect us,” Kaepernick wrote. “When will they be held accountable? or did he fear for his life as he executed this man?”
After the cops had Sterling securely on the ground, someone shouted, “He’s got a gun!” at which point the cop shot him in the chest and in the back.
“Sterling died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back, according to East Baton Rouge Coroner Dr. William Clark,” per NBC News. “He would not immediately confirm reports that Sterling was shot seven times.”
The shooting has sparked protests in Baton Rouge, where the community is mourning Sterling, and the nature of his untimely death.