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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has come under fire again after revealing to reporters that it would be “hypocritical” of him to vote and that it did not matter who won the 2016 presidential election.

Sports Illustrated reported the embattled QB told members of the media: “I said from the beginning I was against oppression, I was against the system of oppression. I’m not going to show support for that system. And to me, the oppressor isn’t going to allow you to vote your way out of your oppression.” 

Kaepernick––already embroiled in controversy over his National Anthem protest––sparked another uproar by opting out of the nation’s political process.

On Monday’s edition of NewsOne Now, Roland Martin and his panel of guests discussed the NFL star’s comments and how important voting is for the African-American community.

A. Scott Bolden, Attorney and former Chair of the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party, said Kaepernick “should be ripped about it” and agreed with ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith’s remarks about the matter.

Bolden quoted Smith as saying: “You can not protest what’s wrong with America and then not vote to change it. And people have died, people have protested, people have suffered for that symbol of freedom, which is the right to vote.”

Lauren Victoria Burke, Political Analyst and Writer for NBCBLK, stood in opposition of the pushback against Kaepernick and said, “I don’t think there is a big problem with him not voting and waging his protest regarding police brutality.”

The NewsOne Now panelist referenced the Walter Scott police shooting case and said, “I don’t think that you can draw a direct line in some of these cases from voting to stopping somebody from getting killed in that way.

“If you can make the argument that Eric Garner and Michael Brown and these people would be alive because we voted – I don’t know if I can make that direct line,” she said.

Burke, who was not advocating against voting, later stated Kaepernick “not voting doesn’t delete his protest [and] doesn’t make it less.”

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss Colin Kaepernick’s decision to opt out of the 2016 election in the video clip above.

Do you believe Kaepernick’s National Anthem protest over police brutality was diminished by the NFL player not exercising his right to vote?

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

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Roland Martin Confronts White Nationalist Richard Spencer On NewsOne Now