Colin Kaepernick‘s Know Your Rights campaign has launched an initiative aimed at assisting families of people who were killed at the hands of law enforcement.
The Autopsy Initiative will provide free, second autopsies conducted by a panel of board-certified forensic pathologists — services that will specifically be offered to those in search of answers and/or confirmation in “police-related deaths.”
“We know that the prison industrial complex, which includes police and policing, strives to protect and serve its interests at all costs,” Kaepernick said. “The Autopsy Initiative is one important step toward ensuring that family members have access to accurate and forensically verifiable information about the cause of death of their loved one in their time of need.”
The mission of the initiative is to help eliminate concerns related to possible bias/errors in initial autopsy reports and the usage of faulty forensic procedures with an objective second opinion.
“I am extremely enthusiastic about this truly unique program,” pathology coordinator Dr. Cyril Wecht said. “The opportunity to have unbiased second autopsies performed by independent, experienced forensic pathologists in police-related deaths will provide victims’ families with knowledge that the true facts of any such case have been thoroughly analyzed and prepared for appropriate utilization whenever deemed necessary.”
Kaepernick has been a vital force in the social justice movement outside of kneeling on the NFL fields. In 2016, he founded the Know Your Rights Campaign with hopes to “advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders,” the website says.
In the years since, he’s called for the abolition of prisons and police, criticized the NFL for blackballing fellow athlete Eric Reid and established a legal defense fund to provide assistance to Minneapolis protesters demanding justice for George Floyd’s death among other things. Following the recent initiative, it seems he won’t letting up anytime soon.