Atlanta Building with Kaepernick Mural Mysteriously Demolished Just Before Super Bowl

The building on which a mural of Colin Kaepernick was painted in Atlanta has been unexplicably demolished on the eve of the Super Bowl.  NFL player Kaepernick started kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest against racial injustice.

Kaepernick's protest developed into a movement as many other NFL players followed suit.  In response, the NFL announced that teams would be fined if players continued to kneel during the national anthem.  Kaepernick, who was the staring quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 47, remains without a club after the 31-year-old quarterback left the 49ers two years ago.

Fabian Williams, the artist who painted the mural,  said "the timing is mad suspicious".  It is not known who was responsible for the demolition.  The building was less than a mile from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be held.

Williams, who is also known as Occasional Superstar, painted the mural over a year and a half ago.  The mural depicted Kaepernick in an Atlanta Falcons uniform and Muhammad Ali as T'challa from Black Panther.  The mural's location had previously been used for many years to promote albums, parties and movies. 

The mural had remained intact since it was created and the artist said that he met the building’s owner on one occasion.  “He said he liked it,” Williams said. “But said that the city was complaining to him about it.”  There are reports that the building's owner had recently been under pressure from the city over the mural.