Since 2016, a California barbershop owner has had a Colin Kaepernick doll hanging from a noose in his shop.
A friend snapped the photo when he visited Bowtie Barbershop in Placerville. He noticed the doll hanging from the ceiling by a noose, FOX40 News reported. Joseph, the friend who didn’t want to disclose his last name, said he later posted the photo on social media.
“I posted it,” he said. “Because I did drive past there probably about three or four times driving down there and I [inaudible] noticed that.”
Evidently, folks on social media didn’t take kindly to the egregious image.
“I literally had no idea that I was offending people,” the owner, known as “Bowtie Barber,” said. “We have a hangman out here called George and so, you know, with the theme of Hangtown, I hung him. And it was wrong, it was absolutely wrong.”
Given the history of lynching Black people in America, it’s extremely difficult to believe that the Bowtie Barber didn’t know the image would be offensive. Maybe he has never picked up a history book or maybe he is just stupid, but the insensitive, demeaning photo may have cost him his business.
Barber, a well-known figure in the community, said the Kaepernick doll had been in his barbershop hanging since the former San Francisco 49er began kneeling during the anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality in America. The on-field protests spread across the NFL, sparking national outrage.
“I am a die hard 49ers fan and when that action happened there was a lot portrayed on the 49ers and I took it personally,” Barber explained.
He added, “I’m publicly announcing that I apologize. It was the wrong thing for me to do. Absolutely it will never happen again. I absolutely see the other side of it. I’m sorry.”
Of course, Bowtie came with the obligatory apology and a sudden empathetic change of heart but Joseph thinks the apology isn’t enough and has already caused damage and added more fuel to already heightened racial tension.
“Imagine how many kids already seen that doll,” he said.
The doll was taken down.
