Colin Kaepernick praises his mom for calling out racists when he was a kid

Colin Kaepernick has long been able to handle racists and he thanks his mama for the life lessons that taught him on how to rise up after he was heavily criticized for kneeling during the national anthem.

And the former San Francisco 49er honored his mother Teresa tonight during the airing of “Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Moms”on VH-1.

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Kaepernick, who has used his platform to fight oppression and police brutality was adopted and raised by white parents who he said fought to protect him from ignorance and racial intolerance.

“When kids would ask me, ‘Who’s your real mother?’, I knew exactly what they meant,” he said.  “And I must admit, there were times when I’d be at a loss for words.”

The racism didn’t stop there. He reminisced about the earlier times as a youth when he would go on family vacations and get stopped and asked questions—even when he was with his parents.

He recalls when a motel manager approached him and asked: “Excuse me. Is there something I can help you with?”

But mama Teresa was never one to hold her tongue. Kaepernick admits that his mother would let racists have it when they made offensive comments.

“When adults were unaware of who my mother was at little league baseball games, it was her that gave a tongue-lashing to the parents in the stands speaking ill about the black child striking out all of their sons.”

His mother Teresa appears on the show too, commending her son for being a crusader for injustice.

“When you see injustice in this world, you are not the kind of man who sits back and hopes that someone else will deal with it,” she said. “Even though it may mean sacrificing your dreams.”

Anthony Anderson returns as host for the third time alongside La La Anthony.

“Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Moms” will premiere on Monday, May 7th at 9 PM ET/PT.

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