American football quarterback, has visited various parts of Ghana as part of his journey to self-discovery and connecting with his roots. Kaepernick’s biological father’s ancestors are from Ghana and Nigeria, which the 29-year-old discovered last year using a DNA test. He shared a video of his visit on social media saying: “In a quest to find my personal independence, I had to find out where my ancestors came from. I set out tracing my African ancestral roots, and it lead me to Ghana. Upon finding out this information, I wanted to visit the sites responsible for myself (and many other Black folks in the African Diaspora) for being forced into the hells of the middle passage. I wanted to see a fraction of what they saw before reaching the point of no return.   I spent time with the/my Ghanaian people, from visiting the local hospital in Keta and the village of Atito, to eating banku in the homes of local friends, and paying my respects to Kwame Nkrumah’s Memorial Park. I felt their love, and truly I hope that they felt mine in return.”

“What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?” – Frederick Douglass. In a quest to find my personal independence, I had to find out where my ancestors came from. I set out tracing my African ancestral roots, and it lead me to Ghana. Upon finding out this information, I wanted to visit the sites responsible for myself (and many other Black folks in the African Diaspora) for being forced into the hells of the middle passage. I wanted to see a fraction of what they saw before reaching the point of no return. I spent time with the/my Ghanaian people, from visiting the local hospital in Keta and the village of Atito, to eating banku in the homes of local friends, and paying my respects to Kwame Nkrumah’s Memorial Park. I felt their love, and truly I hope that they felt mine in return.

A post shared by colin kaepernick (@kaepernick7) on Jul 4, 2017 at 11:10am PDT

His 4th of July post on twitter about celebrating Independence Day in America has spark more conversation between the controversial quarterback’s supporters and his crtics. He tweeted: “How can we truly celebrate independence on a day that intentionally robbed our ancestors of theirs? To find my independence I went home.” Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the brink of winning Super Bowl XLII remains a free agent after being released by the 49ers this offseason. ]]>