Colin Kaepernick, Michael Bennett appear on latest cover of ‘The New Yorker’ with Martin Luther King Jr.

The Jan. 15 cover issue of The New Yorker will feature a kneeling Martin Luther King Jr., with Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett beside him.

The cover’s artist, Mark Ulriksen, wrote about the inspiration for the cover for The New Yorker. “I asked myself, What would King be doing if he were around today?” he wrote.

Ulriksen added, “This is 49er country, and my mom and I have been going back and forth — she’s upset that players have brought politics into sports, but I say, ‘How would you feel if you had to show up at work every day and salute a country that treats black people like second-class citizens?’

“I’m glad that Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett are making it political,” he said. “I’m sure that if King were around today, he’d be disappointed at the slow pace of progress: two steps forward, 20 steps back. Or 10 yards back, as the metaphor may be.”

Kaepernick started his movement last season with the goal of raising awareness of the oppression people of color in the United States face. He started sitting for the national anthem, before ultimately deciding taking a knee would be the better stance, after talking with former NFL player and Army Ranger Nate Boyer.

Since then, NFL players joined Kaepernick in his protest, including Bennett. The Seahawks defensive end has long been outspoken on the topic, but started sitting for the national anthem in the 2017 season.

“I hope that I can activate everybody to get off their hands and feet and go out into the communities and push helping each other,” Bennett said, via NFL Network’s Steve Wyche, on why he was sitting for the anthem. “Sit down with somebody that’s the opposite sex, sit down with somebody that’s the opposite race, different religion and understand that people are different and go out and join the community and try to change the society, change what you’re a part of. If you don’t like it, keep changing it.”

Since starting his protest, Kaepernick has yet to be signed by an NFL team after the conclusion of the 2017 season. But he has continued his activism, and inspired others to create change in the world.