Colin Kaepernick Donates $50K to Standing Rock Health Clinic

By Yessenia Funes Jan 09, 2017

Colin Kaepernick, the outspoken NFL star, is a man of his word.

In tune with his pledge to donate $1 million to organizations in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities over 10 months—$100,000 a month—the San Francisco 49ers quarterback allotted half of his December donations to the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic Partnership at Standing Rock, which has provided free healthcare to those resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Half of the $50,000 will cover the salaries of doctors and nurses; a quarter will help offset the materials required to build the mobile clinic; 15 percent is earmarked for medical supplies and the remaining portion will go toward liability insurance, according to the football player’s website.

The Do No Harm Coalition at the University of California at San Francisco issued a call for donations in September 2016 after the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe invited it to create a free clinic at their camp. Its goal? “To create a space for the imagining and practice of decolonized medicine in order to further the health of the community in the short-term with the expanded population due to pipeline resistance and in the long-term after the encampments have dissolved,” according to its fundraiser.

Kaepernick also donated to a North Minneapolis food justice organization, Appetite for Change, and Chicago’s Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation. Since the announcement of his $1 million pledge in September, he has donated to organizations working on police violence, housing rights and youth empowerment.  

Kaepernick’s activism gained global attention when he began protesting the national anthem in August 2016 by taking a knee during the NFL season.