No Santa Clara Police Boycott At 49ers Games
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- South Bay police held a secret meeting Thursday, a week after issuing a threat about possibly boycotting 49ers games over Colin Kaepernick's decision to not stand during the national anthem.
Talks of a boycott started last week the Santa Clara Police Officers Association sent a letter to the team's president taking offense to the quarterback's protests.
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The secret meeting went down at Santa Clara police headquarters just after lunch.
In the room were the board members of the Santa Clara Police Officers Association and the chief of police. Also in attendance were head of the Asian Law Alliance Richard Konda and the Reverend Jeff Moore, the president of the San Jose chapter of the NAACP.
"The tone of the meeting was joyful and happy. We agreed on a lot of things, and on some things we didn't" said Moore.
The officials talked about the letter the union sent to the 49ers nearly a week ago over Kaepernick's postgame comments about police violence, calling his words "insulting."
The letter also called the pig-police socks Kaepernick wore to practice two weeks ago "derogatory."
The letter went on to say, "If the 49ers organization fails to take action to stop this type of inappropriate workplace behavior, it could result in police officers choosing not to work at your facilities."
Moore and Konda left the meeting after nearly two hours. They all agreed they want to speak to Kaepernick directly
"We want Kaepernick to take a ride with the Santa Clara Police Department to understand that not all departments are bad," said Moore. "Again we want Kap to be part of this conversation about how we can make policing better in our communities and how he can get a better understanding of what police do."
Moore said the home games will be staffed and there was no mention of a boycott while he was in attendance.
"The stadium will be fully staffed and the fans will be fully protected. Everything is looking good uphill," said Moore. "The grass is green and we're looking forward to bringing Kapernick on the conversation."
However, the meeting between the Santa Clara POA and the chief were still ongoing four hours after it began. Afterwards, the chief echoed Moore's sentiments.
"Absolutely no boycott. I do want to clarify that," said Santa Clara Police Chief Mike Sellers. "The discussion of he leadership group of the POA they did not have any intention of boycotting."
