SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's protest of racial inequality and oppression in the United States has landed him on the cover of the upcoming issue of Time magazine.
The magazine tweeted the cover Thursday morning showing Kaepernick kneeling as he's done during the national anthem of the past two regular-season games and the final preseason contest in San Diego. The headline on the cover – "The Perilous Fight" – is followed by: "National anthem protests led by Colin Kaepernick are fueling a debate about privilege, pride and patriotism."
TIME's new cover: The perilous fight. How national anthem protests led by Colin Kaepernick are fueling a debate https://t.co/FsZoblqj0b pic.twitter.com/pCVB3wM2kp
— TIME (@TIME) September 22, 2016
The Oct. 3 issue is expected to include a number of stories about Kaepernick and other players around the NFL who have joined in the protest.
Earlier this week, Kaepernick revealed that he has received death threats via multiple avenues since he began his protest. He also said his $1 million donation to organizations helping communities in need will be spread out in $100,000 increments over the course of 10 weeks.
Kaepernick, who has been on the receiving end of plenty of insults and boos since his protest began, said his critics don't care about what's going on or they don't understand it.
"There’s a lot of racism disguised as patriotism in this country, and people don’t like to address that and they don’t like to address what the root of this protest is -- and the root of players across the country, not only in the NFL, but you have soccer, you have NBA players talking about it, high school players talking about it, college players," Kaepernick said. "They don’t like to address the issue that is people of color being oppressed and treated unjustly. I don’t know why that is and what they’re scared of, but it’s something that needs to be addressed."
Kaepernick said he has been encouraged by the support he has received from other athletes and people around the country.
"I think other people are picking up on the protest and speaking out about it, from high school to activists to pro athletes," Kaepernick said. "I think it’s huge, and I think the more conversation [that] continues between those communities, more and more solutions will come up on how to fix this and the best way to fix it as quickly as possible. I think that’s important and ultimately the goal."