Rejection Isn’t Failure: ‘Colin in Black & White’ Netflix Limited Series Review

You will watch him navigate his Black skin, his struggle in athletics, and his journey to the man we all know him as today. 

Colin in Black & White is the autobiographical origin story of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The series starts off strong, with Colin comparing the process of making it big in professional sports to the buying and selling of enslaved Black men. “As a kid, you don’t realize you’re being groomed for a system, you just want to make the team.” You will watch a young Colin Kaepernick wrestle with throughout the remainder of the series. You will watch him navigate his Black skin, his struggle in athletics, and his journey to the man we all know him as today. 

As a fellow biracial, former athlete, in the justice world, I greatly appreciated the truths portrayed throughout this limited series. Each episode tackles many of the topics that we may or may not have heard thrown around in the last year or two. The series addresses Black culture, hair, self-expression, music, white privilege, microaggressions, beauty standards, and even the police. 

It’s obvious that there was an agenda in producing this series and they were purposeful in incorporating education within the storyline, but don’t let that stop you from watching and learning. With all the political controversy that surrounds Colin Kaepernick, I’m afraid there will be folks that choose to turn their nose up to this series, missing out on a fascinating story and a peek into this unique Black man’s experience. 

Colin Kaepernick was adopted and raised by two white parents. He grew up in a predominantly white area or as he calls it in the series, an area that had a “scarcity of Black people.” He was to be the acceptable negro, do things the right way…or the white way. He was urged to play baseball because it was a more civil sport compared to football. A young Colin wouldn’t wear braids for 14 years because he was told that he looked unprofessional or like a thug, prior to being forced to take them out and cut his hair…at SUPERCUTS (a Black person’s worst nightmare). 

He spent his entire upbringing searching and yearning for the white man’s stamp of approval and he assumed because his parents were white, that their privilege trickled down to him. Unfortunately, Colin and I both learned that the world doesn’t work this way and our lives will always be different from our white parents. That’s the reality of any biracial or transracial adopted child and they were purposeful to make sure they portrayed this throughout the series.

Ultimately with this series, we see that Colin Kaepernick was no stranger to rejection. However, just like Colin by the end of these six episodes, viewers will understand that rejection isn’t failure and that what we start out as isn’t always what we become. Colin Kaepernick started out as a young Black man who dreamed of being a quarterback and was one at the highest level, but he became an activist at the end of it all. Kaepernick started out as a young Black man who didn’t know who he was and became a Black man who loved his Blackness and knows exactly who he is. 

The series ends with a message to a specific group of people. “To the Underestimated, the overlooked, and the outcast, trust your power.” Encouraging those who were rejected that their story isn’t over. It is a beautiful ending to a moving series. I laughed, I cringed, and I cried. I truly do hope that families will sit down and watch Colin in Black & White together and that it sparks conversations. 

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