Fauci and Kaepernick will be honored with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

The United States leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick are going to receive Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award this year, the organization announced on Monday, The Hill reported.

In 1968, The RFK Human Rights was named after the United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a few months after his assassination.

The organization stated in an announcement on Monday, that when the gallant pursuance for justice and equality turned political and filled with misfortune, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stood with today’s human rights defenders in their quest for improvement.”

The organization’s decision to honor former NFL star Kaepernick comes as, during the National Anthem, the nationwide athletes kneeled in protest against racial discrimination. The move reignited as of late amid covid-19 when George Floyd and other Black Americans died due to unlawful and bigotry treatment in the hands of few policemen. 

Kaepernick thanked the organization for the honor and recalled his experience of seeing the civil rights activist Harry Belafonte received the same honor in 2017, which made him feel so gratified. He stated, that he is so humbled to serve the footsteps of people like Harry Belafonte and to be a recipient among such great laureates,” The Hill stated. 

Kaepernick was the first NFL player to start kneeling before games during the National Anthem during the 2016 season. Though many NFL players and other athletes joined in it against bigotry and police ruthlessness, Kaepernick was criticized and claimed to be unpatriotic by politicians, including President Trump.

Dr. Fauci is the recipient of the Ripple of Hope Award laureate after the director of the National Institute of Allergy, and Infectious Diseases was patted by the White House to support in leading the government’s response towards pandemic.

In 2020, various others that will receive the award including co-founder of United Farm Workers of America; Dan Schulman, CEO, and president of PayPal; CEO of DocuSign, Dan Springer, founder, and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Dolores Huerta.

Article Credit: Daily Mail, The Hill, CNN