NAACP president: "Not a stretch" to compare Colin Kaepernick to Rosa Parks

“It’s a lofty name, but it’s not a stretch,’’ Cornell William Brooks, president of the NAACP, told USA TODAY Sports of comparing the San Francisco 49ers quarterback to the civil rights activist. “We’ll let history be the judge, how consequential Kaepernick’s action is.’’

The success of Kaepernick’s protest against social injustice, Brooks suggested, hinges on the next steps the quarterback takes — and the NAACP is among those hoping to work with Kaepernick. Brooks said the NAACP has reached out to Kaepernick but not spoken to him directly, and Rev. Jesse Jackson told USA TODAY Sports he has spoken to Kaepernick’s manager and hopes to speak with the quarterback directly, too.