Your football knowledge may or may not be limited, but there is one player you surely know by now: Colin Kaepernick. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback has ignited the nation with a simple, personal protest. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” Kaepernick said to explain his decision to take a knee during the National Anthem.

Real Talk | Marc Lamont Hill on Colin Kaepernick

The continuing death toll, including Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott in the past week, only makes his act more relevant. And so TIME magazine has made Kap its latest cover star, for a story titled “The Perilous Fight.”

The image of the quarterback in cornrows, taking a knee as he does each game day, is one that leaps off the page. We’d send you to TIME to read the story, but you have to pay for it, fam. Freedom ain’t free.

Colin Kaepernick