Gold Star Mom Blasts Colin Kaepernick After Son Was Killed in Afghanistan, Who Honored the American Flag

Getty Images | Thearon W. Henderson

A gold star mother defended the American flag in a moving Fourth of July speech in which she honored her late son, Marine Lance Corporal Christopher Phoenix-Jacob Levy.

In addition to paying tribute to her son, Amanda Jacobs admonished American football player Colin Kaepernick for refusing to honor the national anthem before football games. Jacobs claimed that while Kaepernick is a multi-millionaire, her son has given so much more than the athlete ever will.

Levy was killed on Dec. 10, 2011, after sustaining a fatal gunshot wound to the head during combat in Afghanistan. He was 21 years old. Speaking at the Rally for Freedom in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2019, his mother delivered a powerful tribute to the gathered crowd.

“When I look at this country today and I tell people, and I’ve wanted to say this loud so many times, Colin Kaepernick was getting paid $14 million a year to throw a ball,” the gold star mom began, through tears. “My son died for $14,000 a year, and he’s given more than any football player, any athlete, has ever given.”

Back in 2016, Kaepernick inaugurated a trend among liberal athletes of refusing to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a game in protest against racial injustice, as per The New York Times. The footballer’s defiant gesture made national headlines and sparked a highly controversial trend, which the League itself later curtailed.

“There’s a time and a place for everything,” Jacobs later commented, speaking to Fox News, “but during our national anthem is not the time and place.”

Colin Kaepernick #7 and Eric Reid #35 of the San Francisco 49ers kneel in protest during the national anthem at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sept. 12, 2016. ©Getty Images | Thearon W. Henderson

In addition to Kaepernick’s protest against the national anthem, the footballer also prompted the recall of sports brand Nike’s Air Max 1 Quick Strike in summer of 2019, a sneaker embroidered with the Betsy Ross 13-star American flag. Kaepernick, who was a Nike brand ambassador in 2018, objected to the design on the basis of its connotations.

According to The New York Times, Kaepernick criticized the design to Nike representatives in private. A spokesperson for the brand later released a statement explaining that Nike intended to “halt distribution” of the sneaker “based on concerns that it could unintentionally offend and detract from the nation’s patriotic holiday.”

Kaepernick’s protests were divisive. On one hand, the football player also inspired similarly minded athletes to follow suit. On the other, Kaepernick was heatedly criticized by patriotic-minded Americans for disrespecting the military and the United States of America as a whole—Americans like Lance Corporal Levy.

According to Army Times, Levy decided to become a Marine after 9/11. He died as he had lived: thinking of others. Even in death, his body was forfeited to save the lives of men and women in need. Levy was an organ donor.

“I tell people often, I'd only give my life for two sets of people, my children and my parents,” Jacobs reflected. “And for my son to sign on the dotted line, willing to do that, just to give his life for people he didn’t know, and then he took the next step to give his body.

“So there are seven people living a better life today,” she added.

At the Rally for Freedom on July 4, 2019, Jacobs paid tribute to her son and spoke of the powerful symbolism of the American flag. “I got 30 Marines that sleep on my floor,” she said, “and it’s great, but they tell us that the only thing that kept them going is when they could look up and see that flag.

“[T]hey had hope to go back home to,” Jacobs added, “and a hope that this country was going to change for the better.”