Cam Newton and the Burden of History

[PhillyB]

Presented without comment.

Except DAMN.

 

http://www.thenation.com/article/cam-newton-and-the-burden-of-history/

 

[tiger7_88]

Would like to read.

It is demanding my e-mail address.

So, unfortunately, not gonna read.

Any highlights you could provide?  Will this article have people calling you a racist? :P

[Moose Hoover]

3 minutes ago, tiger7_88 said:

Would like to read.

It is demanding my e-mail address.

So, unfortunately, not gonna read.

Any highlights you could provide?  Will this article have people calling you a racist? :P

just use a fake...I used [email protected] and it let me read it.

[PhillyB]

5 minutes ago, tiger7_88 said:

Would like to read.

It is demanding my e-mail address.

So, unfortunately, not gonna read.

Any highlights you could provide?  Will this article have people calling you a racist? :P

it doesn't demand my email address...

[tiger7_88]

1 minute ago, Moose Hoover said:

just use a fake...I used [email protected] and it let me read it.

But... but... that would be DISHONEST!

:P

(Thanks.)

[SportsCrazie4172]

@PhillyB Thank you for posting this!! Love the reference in it:

Huey P. Newton.
Cam Newton.
Black Panthers.
Carolina Panthers.
Panther Party 50th Anniversary
Super Bowl 50.
Still think it’s just a game? #symbolism
And Huey died in 1989 Cam was born in 1989

[d-dave]

I didn't get asked.

Very interesting read regarding the profile of Cam Newton in the racial charged times we live in.  It feels a little sensationalizing, but the point is very interesting none-the-less.  I say sensationalizing because I question how cultural Cam Newton is.  I mean, I know he's a big football deal, and he is our beloved QB, but the world is a lot wider, social issues much deeper, and stuff just plainly more complicated.

For better or worse, Cam is going to be assigned this ambassador role to the world.  Many of us will be there to support him in this role as well as his current role, but man, I do not envy him at all (except for the abs...).

[Cookie Lyon]

2 minutes ago, tiger7_88 said:

But... but... that would be DISHONEST!

:P

(Thanks.)

I clicked on the link and read the article, but it didn't ask for my email address.

[Bartin]

Anyone else get the feeling that he is being pushed into the role of the person who has to be a social activist when all he really wants to do is be himself? His instagram with Ali in the background today suggests otherwise or that he is starting to embrace that role but even when he made the "maybe people are scared because they haven't see nothing they can compare me to" comments prior to the Super Bowl it seemed to me that he was only talking about himself on the football field and he seemed to back away from them fairly quickly when the media tried to make it bigger than that.

There are certainly some people who want him to be the stereotypical white QB, but I feel like there are other people pulling from the other side and want him to be MLK when all he really wants to be is Cam Newton, the best QB in history.

[d-dave]

Just now, Bartin said:

Anyone else get the feeling that he is being pushed into the role of the person who has to be a social activist when all he really wants to do is be himself? His instagram with Ali in the background today suggests otherwise or that he is starting to embrace that role but even when he made the "maybe people are scared because they haven't see nothing they can compare me to" comments prior to the Super Bowl it seemed to me that he was only talking about himself on the football field and he seemed to back away from them fairly quickly when the media tried to make it bigger than that.

There are certainly some people who want him to be the stereotypical white QB, but I feel like there are other people pulling from the other side and want him to be MLK when all he really wants to be is Cam Newton, the best QB in history.

I feel the same way, but that's my personal bias leaking in!  I have no problems just being a dude who loves being a dad and generally enjoy my work.  Remember, Cam mentioned wanted to be an icon, but I'm not sure he wanted this.

[tiger7_88]

Just now, Cookie Lyon said:

I clicked on the link and read the article, but it didn't ask for my email address.

The message I got was "You have read 3 of your 6 free articles.  Please enter your e-mail address so that we may send you future notices etc."  And it wouldn't cancel out either... it insisted upon getting that e-mail address.

I guess if you haven't reached "3" yet of your allowed "6" free articles on that site, you don't get the request for e-mail.  But it wouldn't let me go any farther until I did.  So I did what Moose recommended above and just used [email protected] and it went right through. :)

[Bartin]

Just now, d-dave said:

I feel the same way, but that's my personal bias leaking in!  I have no problems just being a dude who loves being a dad and generally enjoy my work.  Remember, Cam mentioned wanted to be an icon, but I'm not sure he wanted this.

True about being an icon, but I always took that as an icon like Jordan or LeBron. They are icons for what they did on the field and with business through their endorsements. If he wants to be Ali then I'm fully behind him, but it really seems like it is being forced on him just as unfairly as some try to force the stereotypical white QB role on him when he's neither. He's just Cam.

[Daddy_Uncle]

I think we have to face the facts. We have one of the biggest sports figures maybe ever on our team as far as his influence goes. One of those names kids will know a hundred years from now for his play and cultural influence. Kind of crazy to think. And everyone wanted to go have Andrew "chipmink" Luck

[truthjuice]

The comments were sensationalized by the media. Jim Brown hit the nail on the head--he used that phrase about being an AA QB as a description, which was true. Cam is a black quarterback who can't be compared to any current players. Hes not a finesse quarterback like Peyton, Tom and Aaron. He's not a Russell Wilson in that he's not media black. Cam is Cam. And it kills people so yeah, the media hyped it up. Cam said he wanted to give hope and although he included all races, he spoke directly to the little black boys who wants to someday be Cam Newton. He's an activist in his own right and he's embraced that.