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Today, 2016, Twenty-nine-year-old Colin Kaepernick, entering his prime years as an NFL quarterback, took a knee during the National Anthem before a pre-season game against the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

This 1 minute and 30 second protest against police brutality set the stage for massive protests across the nation, including one that is considered the largest in American history (George Floyd protest). Colin's actions ended his NFL career.

There is no place for protest in the sport of American football. Radical sports journalist David Zirin said it best: football is a sport whose DNA is constructed to produce obedience and deference to authority.

Despite being blackballed from the sport he so passionately loved to play, Colin has done well for himself; he still fights the good fight, and it has not gone unnoticed. He is the recipient of the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, the American Civil Liberties Union Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Harvard University W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, and the Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Colin's courage and sacrifice place his name alongside other well-known sports activists like Curt Flood, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Paul Robeson.