And former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has accepted Amnesty International’s highest prize, the Ambassador of Conscience Award. In 2016, Kaepernick sparked a movement against racism and police brutality at sporting events across the U.S. by refusing to stand for the playing of the national anthem ahead of NFL games. This is Colin Kaepernick speaking Saturday night at an Amnesty awards ceremony in Amsterdam.

Colin Kaepernick: “It was James Baldwin who said, 'To be black in America and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.' My question is: Why aren’t all people? How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates freedom and justice for all, that is so unjust to so many of the people living there? How can you not be in a rage when you know that you are always at risk of death in the streets or enslavement in the prison system? How can you willingly be blind to the truth of systemic racialized injustice?”