Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who wants to — he insists — recapture that job title, has done much more with his knee to gain fame than his right arm or both legs.

This newspaper, in an Our View published on Sept. 27, 2017, was unambiguous in our defense of Kaepernick and his fellow players choosing to take a knee in protest of what they perceived as excessive violence against young black Americans by police officers.

We said then and still believe:

“As a newspaper, we are fond of freedom of speech, and remind everyone that there is a reason it’s protected by the very First Amendment.

“Apple pie isn’t more American than protest. The impetus for the establishment of the world’s greatest democracy was the tossing of tea into the Boston Harbor, and peaceful protests in the 1960s helped mold America into a more benevolent and equitable society.

“Patriotism doesn’t come wrapped in a flag or in a cliche on a bumper sticker. It isn’t self-ascribed, but is earned through actions that go beyond standing up, placing hand over heart and singing along.

“Patriotism is exercising the liberties that have been gifted upon us to try to make America great, and that includes making it a more welcoming and comfortable place for all its citizens.

“NFL players, by taking a knee, are using their constitutionally-given rights to try to correct what they see as a social injustice. It is perfectly American to disagree with their argument and how it is expressed, but un-American to try to deny them either.”

That doesn’t give us membership into the Colin Kaepernick Fan Club. Up until the past weekend, we were rather ambivalent about Kaepernick, respectful of his right to protest but not convinced that his methods were effective. But we now would count ourselves among a growing number of people, including those who have supported him in the past, who just wish he would go away.

Kaepernick has expanded his claims of victimhood, saying that he has been blackballed by the league, even as others who also took a knee continue to play. Kaepernick, to be sure, had two stellar seasons in the NFL, 2013 and 2014, but as a starter for San Francisco the next two seasons, the 49ers were 3-16. While all that losing cannot be pinned on Kaepernick, some of it surely can be. And the 32-year-old isn’t getting any younger.

Still, Kaepernick was able to persuade the NFL that it needed to carry the ball for him, and the league capitulated this past weekend, setting up at an Atlanta Falcons facility a workout session during which he was offered the opportunity to demonstrate to NFL general managers that he could still play.

But that wasn’t done to Kaepernick’s satisfaction, so he took his show on the road, and performed the workout more than 30 minutes away at a high school field and with fewer eyes upon him. Then he went before the cameras and, we will paraphrase now, told the NFL it was on the clock, the implication plain: If he weren’t signed quickly it would be additional proof of collusion among league honors not to give him a shot.

It is a tenuous position because there are plenty of NFL teams that could use a good quarterback, including our own Carolina Panthers. Winning puts fannies in the seats, and from there good things unfurl. So it makes little sense that NFL teams would pass on a player who could help them win.

But what does make sense is that they would pass on a backup quarterback who arrives in town with a circus in tow. Kaepernick is a distraction, and his antics this past weekend are more evidence. He wants to play games, but obviously not professional football.

— The Robesonian, Lumberton