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Colin Kaepernick clarified his remarks about Fidel Castro after being booed heavily by fans in Miami

colin kaepernickLynne Sladky/AP

Colin Kaepernick caused a stir with some remarks he made about Fidel Castro, the former leader of Cuba, last week during a conference call with media before the San Francisco 49ers’ Week 12 game against the Miami Dolphins.

Miami Herald columnist Armando Salguero got into an exchange with Kaepernick when he asked why Kaepernick wore a shirt in August with an image of Malcolm X and Castro with the words “like minds think alike.”

Kaepernick said that while the shirt was in support of Malcolm X, it showed Malcolm X’s willingness to meet with people of different cultures and ideas and keep an open mind.

“One thing Fidel Castro did do is they have the highest literacy rate because they invest more in their education system than they do in their prison system, which we do not do here even though we’re fully capable of doing that,” Kaepernick said, according to Salguero.

After the 49ers lost to the Dolphins on Sunday — during which Kaepernick was frequently booed by Miami fans — Kaepernick clarified his remarks on Castro (via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner):

“What I said was I agree with the investment in education. I also agree with the investment in free universal healthcare as well as the involvement in him helping end apartheid in South Africa. I would hope that everybody agrees those things are good things. And trying to push the false narrative that I was a supporter of the oppressive things that he did is just not true.”

Kaepernick said of the T-shirt: “I can understand the concern, but for me, what I said was that was a historic moment for Malcolm. I’m not going to cut out pieces of Malcolm’s life. In 1960, when they met in Harlem, that was a historic moment.”

Kaepernick’s comments during the media conference came before Castro’s death on Friday. Kaepernick said that playing in South Florida, which has a large Cuban population, two days after Castro’s death was “very unique circumstances.”

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