Saul Eugene, 23, knew he was walking into hostile territory when he attended Thursday night’s Trump rally in Minneapolis wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey. But he never expected to be ejected from the venue.
Trump has very publicly disparaged Kaepernick and other NFL players who’ve knelt during the National Anthem in protest of police violence and racial injustice. Eugene is a self-described “political operative” who says he’s worked for a variety of Democratic politicians in Minnesota. Wearing a Kaepernick jersey, he tells TIME, “was an easy way to send a message, without having to use too many words.”
What, exactly, is that message? “I think it’s strength,” says Eugene in the first interview he’s given about the ejection, which was captured on camera and began to go viral on Friday. Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season, when he began his protest. Earlier on Thursday, Kaepernick’s representatives had released a statement noting that he has been “working out 5 days a week, for 3 years, in preparation to play again,” and lamenting that not a single team has even b…