Photo via: The ACLU of Southern California.
Less than a month after being named GQ magazine’s Citizen of the Year, Colin Kaepernick has received yet another honor for his unwavering commitment to social justice. This time it came from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization whose mission is “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
The free-agent quarterback accepted the ACLU’s Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award at its Bill of Rights Dinner on Sunday night. In his acceptance speech, Kaepernick said:
“We all have an obligation no matter the risk, and regardless of reward, to stand up for our fellow men and women who are oppressed with the understanding that human rights cannot be compromised.”
He ended his speech with a Frederick Douglass quote: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
Kaepernick is set to receive the Muhammad Ali Legacy Award at the 2017 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year ceremony tonight.