He is using his superstar platform to be the change we all want to see.
It is not only the likes of Marcus Rashford and Lewis Hamilton intent on rewriting the rules for the current generation.
Thierry Henry must be supported as he takes a stand in a battle that has to be fought - for all our sakes.
Social media has, for years, been a race to the bottom in which users are forced to navigate racism, bullying and sexism, risking their mental health. While those who run the sites point to numbers and a supposed zero tolerance policy, we all know of real people, real stories and real lives affected.
In the last week alone Rangers star Kemar Roofe and England’s Dortmund teenager Jude Bellingham have been the latest footballers to report abuse vomited in their direction based on the colour of their skin.
Black social media users in general are always aware that they are only a difference of strongly-held opinion away from the n-word, a gorilla emoji or an insult soaked in racial undertones.
It should not been the case that any black footballer - many of them teenagers - is still dealing with the kind of thing we believed would be a thing of the past by now.
The truth, however, is that many of us are calling for help from the social media companies that is simply not coming.
As Henry points out, consider how swiftly Twitter, Instagram and Facebook move to take down Premier League football clips or music that infringes copyright.
If there was money in fighting racism, they’d have dealt with it years ago.
As things stand, despite their hollow words and all the boxes being ticked in terms of soundbites, Twitter and Instagram are failing us and our mental health on a daily basis.
They have already groomed us to be dependent on the sub-culture that sets the agenda for our daily news, sport and celebrity intake.
Many of us reach for a phone as soon as we wake up every morning. Often, after signing off, we have just one more scroll through - before switching off half an hour later.
They’ve got us - and now we are being left to fend for ourselves in the face of the tidal wave of bile we are often subjected to.
Henry, with his 2.3million followers across England, France, Spain and the USA, is right to show that it is possible to draw a line in the sand.
As he points out himself, although he uses the example of Muhammad Ali's refusal to be drafted into the military as an analogy, this issue is a world away from that of the legendary boxer who lost everything opposing the Vietnam War.
But Henry is making the point that Ali didn't wait to find out what others would do before taking his stand. He acted.
Henry's sponsors have backed him. Who wouldn’t want to be behind the player who decides, for his own emotional well being, that he or she doesn’t want to remain on a platform that doesn’t appreciate black lives?
Because therein lies the point. In calling for Twitter and Instagram to “do more” on a seemingly weekly basis, the many players, managers and footballing figures calling for help are pleading for a cavalry that is simply not going to come.
We already know that from the many occasions on which the most offensive of racial insults have been reported, only for complainants to be told that the slurs and emojis don’t breach social media guidelines.
Nor will the fight be won by the self-defeating debate about the knee instead of applying pressure on the people with the power to effect change. It needs action.
Removing yourself from a toxic situation is not about being forced off.
It is about assuming the courage to change the things you can.
In showing leadership, Henry isn’t just doing it for footballers. He is making a stand for us all - regardless of gender, creed or colour. If he can survive without social media for a bit to force change, perhaps we can too.
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