Bruce Springsteen, the internationally famous multimillionaire rock star who regularly lectures Americans about politics between performances of songs written several presidential administrations ago, has received another award for saying the same things applauded by nearly everyone attending the ceremony.

The American Civil Liberties Union honored Springsteen alongside former NFL quarterback and professional activist Colin Kaepernick during its Biennial Leadership Conference in Washington on July 24.

Both men received the newly created Ralph Ellison Award for Defenders of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the Arts, Business, Science and Sports, an impressively long title apparently designed to ensure that practically any celebrity can qualify.

About 1,200 people attended the 2½-hour ceremony at the Washington Hilton. Most were high-school students participating in the ACLU’s National Advocacy Institute, meaning Springsteen enjoyed an opportunity to explain the condition of America to an audience containing people born approximately three decades after his last No. 1 single.

Springsteen, 76, modestly told the crowd that he has never considered himself much of an activist.

“At best, I’m a concerned citizen who plays guitar and says what’s on his mind,” he said.

That description considerably understates the reach of a man who has sold more than 140 million records, received 20 Grammy Awards, won an Academy Award and spent decades enjoying nearly unlimited access to television networks, newspapers, political leaders and the largest concert stages in the world.

But yes: Just an ordinary concerned citizen with a guitar, a worldwide publicity operation and considerably better seats than the rest of us.

Springsteen accepted the award on behalf of activists in Minnesota, Los Angeles, New York, Portland and other cities that he described as being “under siege.” He praised demonstrators who, in his view, placed their safety at risk while defending their neighbors and American ideals.

He then performed “Streets of Minneapolis,” the protest song he released in January after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot during separate confrontations with federal immigration officers.

Springsteen performed alone with an acoustic guitar and harmonica, presumably because no ceremony celebrating progressive politics is considered complete until a wealthy celebrity solemnly straps on an acoustic guitar and informs the country that darkness has descended upon the land.

Kaepernick, meanwhile, told attendees that Americans have the ability to rewrite history and choose how future generations remember them.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback became one of the country’s most divisive political figures after kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial inequality. He has not played in a regular-season NFL game since January 2017 but has remained a prominent activist and cultural figure.

The ACLU praised both men for using their positions in entertainment and sports to advance civil liberties.

Other honorees included Vanita Gupta, former U.S. associate attorney general and current CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; UC Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky; and South Carolina freedom-to-read advocate Elizabeth Foster.

Actor, producer and LGBTQ-rights activist Laverne Cox hosted the event and encouraged attendees to know their rights, embrace their identities and recognize love and empathy as powerful forces.

Springsteen’s latest award follows several other recent political honors.

Last month, he received the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award at New York’s Tribeca Festival. Earlier this year, he allowed the ACLU to use “Born in the U.S.A.” in an advertising campaign concerning birthright citizenship.

That particular song has spent more than 40 years being explained by journalists to people who mistakenly believe its enormous chorus sounds patriotic. Its latest use ensured another generation could be informed that enjoying the song incorrectly is evidence that they failed to understand Bruce Springsteen.

None of this means Springsteen is forbidden from expressing political opinions. He possesses exactly the same right to speak as every other American, and his fans remain free to admire him for doing it.

Everyone else, however, remains equally free to notice that there is nothing especially courageous about condemning Donald Trump while standing before an ACLU audience in Washington.

Springsteen was not challenging a hostile crowd, risking his livelihood or wandering into politically unfamiliar territory. He was being applauded by people who already agreed with him, while accepting an award created by an organization that already shares his politics.

It was less an act of defiance than a very expensive mutual-congratulation ceremony.

Still, Springsteen accepted the honor “sheepishly,” praised the real activists and insisted the award properly belonged to ordinary citizens doing difficult work.

Then the ordinary concerned citizen with 140 million records, an Oscar, 20 Grammys and a harmonica around his neck performed another protest song—and collected one more trophy for the mantel.

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