Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton Continues to Dangerously Toe the Line
Cam Newton’s shirt adorned with an MLK quote seemed a step in the right direction, but has resulted in a disapproving response.
The intersection between sports and society is a compelling and difficult conversation at the same time. Sports are often considered the area where the playing field is “equal.” Yet there are a continuing number of examples where that is shown to not be true. The recent controversy surrounding the growing protest of the national anthem is such a point. Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton has been drawn into the conversation and his difficult approach to responding has drawn questions from some of his biggest fans.
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Before Sunday’s Week 3 game against the, Minnesota Vikings Newton wore a t-shirt presenting a well-known Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Wearing that shirt caused many individuals to take to social media to denounce the action as disingenuous. This was due to Newton’s comments a few months back in an interview in GQ where he pushed back on the idea that he’s experienced racism while playing in the NFL.
“It’s not racism. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion…I’ll let you be the judge. I don’t look at it like that. I look at it like some people have certain beliefs, and I have my own belief, and we can agree to disagree on certain things,” Newton said to Zach Baron in the August issue. “But this is what makes sports so amazing, that we can start a discussion around a table, in the newspaper, in the magazines, that will get people’s attention. And that’s what sports does. I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not. It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation…You bring it to people’s attention. But after that, that’s it.”
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His comments sparked a conversation around whether or not he really believes those statements and why he shifted from where he stood a few months ago when he proclaimed that he will “win his way.” Back in January he presented some interesting insight as dialogue grew around the complex criticism that Newton received throughout the 2015 season that many perceived to be built on stereotypical and race-based negative connotations.
“I’m an African-American quarterback. That may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen nothing they can compare me to,” Newton said back in January as reported by Jeff Gluck of USA Today. “Nobody changed me, nobody made me act this certain way, and I’m true to my roots. But yet people are going to say whatever they’re going to say.”
From January-to-August, that is quite a shift. Newton has received a lot of negative critiques even before his professional career started in 2011 and much of it seems to continue the narrative that African American quarterbacks face a higher and tougher level of scrutiny than white quarterbacks.
In January it seemed like Newton understood that and was ready to challenge those ideas head on. Then August came and his message seems to have transmuted into those along the lines of #AllLivesMatter messaging; much to the dismay of the black members of the community that support him the most. Wearing this t-shirt on Sunday as protests raged throughout Charlotte, but not kneeling in support of the national anthem protest continues a practice of sitting on the fence which is rampant across sports.
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Cam Newton isn’t the only minority player in such a difficult situation. But with the NFL season kicking off, he’s perhaps the biggest name within such a debate. While the conversation is far from over; even after this season is over, it will be compelling to watch how Newton plays into that fold.