evidence: NFL players needed Kaepernick to defibrillate the notoriously fossilized league. And they are, with a new group of leaders ready to carry—carrying—his torch on the sidelines, sparked by the endless news cycle of racially motivated violence, of ethnic discrimination, of immigrant fearmongering. Jocelyn Benson, CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, sees the sheer number of players still employed by the NFL—70 percent of whom are black, as of this time last year—as an activist advantage. "You’re going to see a diversity of tactics, opinions, priorities," she tells me, "and it’s great to see these players expand in the number of ways they’re using their voice to advance change." [...] Colin Kaepernick may never again play in the NFL. He also might, and if he does, protesting will be allowed. ("Players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the national anthem," the NFL had to say for itself, for this story.) Either way, he’s opened the door, one that people—not players, people—like Michael Bennett are willing to walk through. It’s a dangerous door for America, one we aren’t supposed to walk through—and one we were never supposed to find.