Clay Cane is a television commentator and the author of the forthcoming book "Live Through This: Surviving the Intersections of Sexuality, God and Race." Follow him on Twitter: @claycane . The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Colin Kaepernick sparked a media firestorm on August 26 when he refused to stand for the national anthem before a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.

The San Francisco 49ers quarterback explained in an interview, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

I immediately applauded Kaepernick for using the art of protest to spark a national dialogue. People are dying. We are in the eye of a cultural crisis in America.

Kaepernick put endorsements at risk and clearly angered many. Some complained he was anti-American. On the contrary, I thought his action was pro-American, following in the tradition of Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Protest is an American right, which Colin peacefully exercised.

But here is where Kaepernick lost me: His remarks to the press segued into a rant of the type you hear from the conservative right. He said: "I mean, you have Hillary who's called black teens or black kids super predators. You have Donald Trump who's openly racist. I mean, we have a presidential candidate [Hillary Clinton] who's deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn't make sense to me, because if that was any other person, you'd be in prison."

To lump Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the same category is wrong, offensive and uninformed. Trump isn't even in the same category as former President George W. Bush or former Vice President Dick Cheney. Donald Trump isn't a Republican or even a conservative. He's a rich, famous alleged businessman who has money to burn and a disturbing case of narcissism.

It's irresponsible for Kaepernick to insinuate that Clinton should be in jail, with words that skirt close to the shouts of "Lock her up!" from the crowd during Gov. Chris Christie's remarks at the Republican National Convention. After months of investigations into whether charges should be brought against Clinton for her use of a private email server, the FBI director James B. Comey said, "Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."

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I believe the FBI knows more about Clinton's emails than Kaepernick. [Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article included the sentence "We should trust the FBI," which the writer had not intended to include.] In addition, Clinton has owned her mistakes. Donald Trump owns nothing; he believes he is flawless, appearing to make grudging concessions of regret (only once) as a feint when bringing on a new team to revive his campaign.

I have been critical of many of Hillary Clinton's positions. However, she knows she is not above critique. During the primaries, she was protested by Black Lives Matter. Her response? She didn't encourage violence and then offer to pay medical bills for people who threw punches, like Trump; she met with representatives of Black Lives Matter.

From the start of her campaign, she has offered a detailed plan on criminal justice reform . And while some people accuse her of pandering when she talks to any African-American, there is much evidence to the contrary. Clinton has repeatedly reached out to the black community. She has spoken to black media outlets and talked about African-American issues to African-American audiences.

Trump's pitch to African-Americans? "You're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed -- what the hell do you have to lose?"

Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – President Lyndon B. Johnson shakes hands with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. after signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The LBJ Presidential Library is hosting a Civil Rights Summit this week to mark the 50th anniversary of the legislation. Hide Caption 1 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier, poses in the dugout with some of his Brooklyn Dodgers teammates during his first game on April 15, 1947. Hide Caption 2 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Rosa Parks poses for her booking photo after she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955. Hide Caption 3 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Students of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, shout insults at Elizabeth Eckford as she walks toward the school building on the first day of school in 1957. Schools in Arkansas integrated races after the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Hide Caption 4 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – As part of his training for sit-in protests in 1960, student Virginius Thornton practices not reacting to smoke being blown in his face. Hide Caption 5 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Freedom Riders sit on a bus during a trip from Montgomery to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1961. The Freedom Riders would brave mobs and endure savage beatings to desegregate interstate travel. Hide Caption 6 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – A black woman and a white woman sit next to each other at a New York City restaurant in 1962. Hide Caption 7 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – A police dog jumps at a 17-year-old civil rights demonstrator in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 3, 1963. The image appeared on the front page of The New York Times the next day. Hide Caption 8 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Firefighters turn their hoses on demonstrators in Birmingham in July 1963. When civil rights protesters stalled in Birmingham, the city's African-American children took to the streets. Their bravery facing water hoses and dogs riveted the nation. Hide Caption 9 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – King addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963. Hide Caption 10 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – People gather on the National Mall during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Hide Caption 11 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Sarah Jean Collins, 12, lies in bed after being blinded by the dynamite that killed her sister in the bombing of a Birmingham church in September 1963. Four African-American girls were killed in the blast. Hide Caption 12 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – The family of Carol Robertson, a 14-year-old girl killed in the church bombing, attend a graveside service for her in Birmingham on September 17, 1963. Hide Caption 13 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – A 1964 FBI poster seeks information on the whereabouts of Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney and Michael Henry Schwerner. The three civil rights workers disappeared in rural Mississippi in the summer of 1964. Their bodies were found 44 days later. They had been tortured before they were murdered. Hide Caption 14 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Nation Of Islam leader and civil rights activist Malcolm X poses for a portrait in 1965. Malcolm was a symbol of black defiance who ridiculed King's stance on nonviolence. Hide Caption 15 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – The car belonging to Viola Liuzzo sits off the road near Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Liuzzo, a white housewife from Detroit, felt compelled to drive to Selma to help the civil rights movement after seeing demonstrators beaten on television. While driving on a deserted road in the small town one night, Liuzzo's car was run off the road and she was shot to death. Her death showed the nation that the civil rights movement was not just an African-American struggle -- it was an American struggle. Hide Caption 16 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – Memphis sanitation workers hold signs with the slogan "I am a man" during a strike in 1968. Their campaign against discrimination and poor conditions in the workplace brought King to Memphis. Hide Caption 17 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – King lies bleeding at the feet of other civil rights leaders after he was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Hide Caption 18 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and their daughter Yolanda sit in a car on their way to his funeral in Atlanta on April 9, 1968. Hide Caption 19 of 20 Photos: The civil rights movement in photos The civil rights movement in photos – U.S. Olympians Tommie Smith, center, and John Carlos raise their fists in protest during the U.S. national anthem, which was being played after Smith won the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Hide Caption 20 of 20

Kaepernick referenced her 1996 comment "super predators." Sadly, he quoted her as falsely as Donald Trump did. She didn't specifically call black teens or black kids super predators. She was referencing gang culture, but many interpreted the term as racially coded language. I agree, and I despised the term.

Nonetheless, Clinton apologized for the words she used 20 years ago that didn't receive mainstream press until she was running for President. Trump won't even directly apologize for an insulting or bigoted comment he made a week ago.

Additionally, African-Americans have held the Clintons accountable for years. It's a myth that African-Americans blindly supported the Clintons. In 1996, African-American turnout bottomed at only 53%, the lowest it had been since President Jimmy Carter in 1976.

The African-American community is not a robotic voting bloc. Cornel West, Michelle Alexander, Marc Lamont Hill, Melissa Harris-Perry and other thought leaders have been deeply critical of Hillary, but with nuance. Hillary Clinton has worked for the black vote.

Colin Kaepernick, I want to tell you something: I am a black man who lives in a black and predominately immigrant neighborhood. I, my friends, my family and my neighbors cannot afford a Trump presidency. Our very being would be at risk -- on issues from health care to immigration, to the right to marry to the makeup of the Supreme Court and all that would portend.

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Although Kaepernick is a person of color and has experienced prejudice, he sits in a space of economic privilege -- a man who signed a multimillion dollar contract in 2014 . Yes, he is entitled to his opinion, as am I. But is he seriously claiming Trump and Clinton are the same? Trump has said things that I've never heard from a Republican nominee in my lifetime. This is not a standard election. The safety and morale of our country are at stake.

It takes time to grow into activism. There is space for him to evolve and learn. His intentions were clearly genuine. While Kaepernick sitting during the national anthem was profound, his words about the Democratic nominee were disappointing and, quite frankly, misguided.

Colin, your voice is needed. Please don't encourage anyone to bench their vote. We cannot let Trump become president. This is not the football field. This is not a game. You are blessed to live in a world where your livelihood is protected, but for the rest of us, we can't endure a President Trump.