--- title: Colin Kaepernick: Let's Make America Great for the 1st Time description: Colin Kaepernick weighed in on the first presidential debate on Tuesday, calling both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton "proven liars" canonical: https://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-28T18:09:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:53:34.401Z article:section: Politics og:title: Colin Kaepernick: "Let's Make America Great for the First Time" og:description: "America has never been great for people of color" og:url: https://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colin Kaepernick: "Let's Make America Great for the First Time" twitter:description: "America has never been great for people of color" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Colin Kaepernick: 'Let's Make America Great for the First Time' by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 28, 2016 6:09 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 28, 2016 6:09 PM UTC [Colin Kaepernick](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/sport/kaepernick-interview/index.html) weighed in on the first presidential debate on Tuesday, calling both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton “proven liars” who seem to be “trying to debate who’s less racist.” The San Francisco 49ers quarterback has been [in the news](http://time.com/4504023/athletes-america-patriotism/?xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter) for kneeling in protest during the national anthem this football season to raise awareness about racial injustice in America. > [](https://twitter.com/TIME/status/778960852527489028) While Kaepernick was apparently dismayed by both candidates’ debate performances, calling them “embarrassing to watch,” he singled out Trump for his ubiquitous campaign slogan: “He always says, ‘Make America great again.’ Well, America has never been great for people of color and that’s something that needs to be addressed. Let’s make America great for the first time.” \[[CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/28/sport/kaepernick-interview/index.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"Colin Kaepernick: 'Let's Make America Great for the First Time'","datePublished":"2016-09-28T18:09:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:53:34.401Z","description":"\"America has never been great for people of color\"","url":"https://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4511887/colin-kaepernick-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/","name":"Colin Kaepernick: 'Let's Make America Great for the First Time'"}}]}] ```