He’s choosing to sit this one out — and the next one — and the next one.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has decided to boycott our national anthem. On Friday, he refused to stand while “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before the 49ers’ preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. On Sunday, he said he plans to continue to show his disrespect for the flag and the country for as long as he sees fit.

“I did what’s right.”

“I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed,” Kaepernick told reporters Sunday at his locker. “To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.”

Kaepernick insists whatever the consequences or how this boycott ends, “I did what’s right.” He said he hasn’t heard from the NFL or anyone else about his actions.

There’s no NFL policy mandating players stand up during the anthem, reports USA Today. In a text message, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said “players are encouraged to stand but not required.” And 49ers coach Chip Kelly said: “We recognize his right to express his feelings.”

Fans also have a right to express their feelings, and plenty have made it known that they disagree his particular form of protest. When Gabby Douglas did not place a hand over her heart for the pledge of allegiance during the 2016 Rio Olympics, she was heavily criticized and wound up releasing a public apology.

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Kaepernick is joining the ranks of other high-profile black stars, such as Beyoncé, who use their fame to make statements as it suits them. Was the Super Bowl halftime show really the place to be doing a Black Panther salute, as she did? Is boycotting “The Star-Spangled Banner” really the best way to make a point about the country being divided? Don’t these acts do more to widen the gap?

Thousands took to Twitter in order to slam Kaepernick, accusing him of being unpatriotic, spoiled, and childish. Some urged him to move to Canada.

Tomi Lahren, of The Blaze, tweeted: “If this country disgusts you so much. Leave. Others would die to be in your spot you cocky child.”

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Many noted all the success he has achieved in this country, which makes this seem doubly offensive. Other football players tweeted, too. Matt Hasselbeck seemed to not support him, noting that Kaepernick’s stand could cost him the starting position on the team.

Tiki Barber seemed to waffle on the issue, tweeting: “Kaep is using his platform & brand to make a compelling & polarizing point, which is his right, even if it’s met with ire! #idontagree” On “CBS This Morning” Monday Barber was clearer, saying, “I don’t commend him for sitting and not honoring this country and our flag.”

Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is of mixed race (African-American and European) and was adopted as a child by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, who are white. He excelled at baseball, but opted to play football. He accepted a football scholarship at the University of Nevada and has gone on to become an NFL star, known for kissing his bicep after a touchdown is made.

Related: National Anthem: ‘What Freedom is About’

Now, he’ll be known for something even bigger — his protest against the country and what he sees as racism and police brutality.

In college at Nevada, Kaepernick told The Associated Press,  police were called one day “because we were the only black people in that neighborhood.” Officers entered without knocking and drew guns on him and his teammates and roommates as they were moving their belongings.

“You can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist,” Kaepernick said. “That’s insane. Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and more training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us.”

Now — cut to 2016, and Kaepernick is slated to earn a base salary of $11,900,000, a roster bonus of $2,000,000, and a workout bonus of $400,000, according to sportrac.com.

The national anthem isn’t the only patriotic song to come under fire in recent months. Just before July 4, a call went out from a New York Daily News sportswriter for Major League Baseball games to stop playing “God Bless America” during seventh-inning stretches.

Gersh Kuntzman wrote that the song embodies the “worst things [about America]: self-righteousness, forced piety, earnest self-reverence, foam.”

He didn’t seem to understand that singing “God Bless America” is a tradition that began after 9/11 — to show solidarity as a nation, to implicitly honor fallen Americans and first responders, and to demonstrate that America would remain strong against its foes.

As for “The Star-Spangled Banner”? How is that a problem?

It’s a song of slavery, writes Jon Schwarz in a piece for TheIntercept.com. The song was written during the War of 1812, in which the British used American slaves to fight against the U.S. and at the end of the third verse of the song, the words mention the killing:

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

It’s not a verse heard by any of us. Ever. Certainly not by our Olympians who recently stood proudly in Rio over and over again on podiums representing our country in emotional and victorious moments.

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As for Kaepernick, his future with the NFL is already shaky, and maybe that’s why he’s doing this now.

After an off-season with three surgeries and a sub-par 2015 season, he could be looking at some bench time. Coach Kelly said Saturday he still hasn’t decided on who will be the starting quarterback — Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert, who took over the job from Kaepernick last November.

“I think there’s a lot of consequences that come along with this,” Kaepernick said. “There’s a lot of people that don’t want to have this conversation. They’re scared they might lose their job. Or they might not get the endorsements. They might not to be treated the same way. Those are things I’m prepared to handle.”

He added, “At this point, I’ve been blessed to be able to get this far and have the privilege of being able to be in the NFL, making the kind of money I make and enjoy luxuries like that. I can’t look in the mirror and see people dying on the street that should have the same opportunities that I’ve had.”

As Rolling Stone magazine points out, this is all reminiscent of Muhammad Ali’s political activism when he refused to enlist in the Vietnam War in 1967. But will Kaepernick ever wind up being called “The Greatest”?

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