Cam Newton confounds both his fans and his haters — but he’s not so different from the rest of us.

[JakeDel5674]

Cam Newton is an incredibly talented human being who has a job white Americans see as a white man’s job, and apparently this is vexing to America. Cam Newton is sometimes reduced to his athleticism, as in “an athletic quarterback,” aka black, which is predictably comforting to America. Cam Newton wears a Superman T-shirt under his jersey, which is a wink to America. Cam Newton likes flashy clothes like NFL legend Joe Namath, which is scandalous to America. Cam Newton is arrogant, and that is outrageous and an oxymoron to America. Cam Newton has a shoe contract with Under Armour, whose CEO, Kevin Plank, once supported racist Donald Trump, and this is commonplace in America. Cam Newton has a son named Chosen and a daughter named Sovereign-Dior, which seems like freedom to America. Cam Newton is a typical male human holding misogynistic beliefs who says sexist things like “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes,” and this reveals something about him but not something about America? Cam Newton believes winning is everything, and that is reassuring to America. Cam Newton celebrates winning by dancing on the field, and that is distasteful to America. But mostly, Cam Newton is a young man growing up in the American public while being extraordinary and ordinary and disappointing and magnificent and resilient all at once. Cam Newton is no Colin Kaepernick, which means he still has a job, America.

The genius of Cam Newton’s father was not to shut down his son’s need for expression and attention but to compartmentalize it. When Cam wanted to be noticed, his father told him to dress up on Fridays. The message communicated was to play the game so you can do what you want one day a week. After his rise to quarterback fame for the Carolina Panthers, people took offense to his celebratory dances; Newton was advised to instead give the ball to a child when he was done. The implication was that he should play on American sentimentality around childhood innocence and all would be fine. Share the moment with the children and you will be able to have your moment, because the win, Cam Newton, was never about you. You are a means to an end that does not include you. Newton incorporated the advice into his celebratory routine.

And yet the one place Newton appears to be the least edited is in his body. Among his gifts is the ability to inhabit his emotions fully. Whether walking out of a news conference to sulk privately after a major loss or when celebrating exuberantly, Cam Newton is simply being himself. And that self is not defined by the scripts that are created in a country governed by anti-black racism: He is not a criminal, though he did steal a laptop in college; nor is he overtly political, though he did once raise his fist in the symbol of black power; nor is he an Uncle Tom, though he does understand how easily he could lose what he has earned, and he recently went on the record defending Panthers owner Jerry Richardson after racism and sexual assault allegations: “When you hear a report about Mr. Richardson, a person that we all, as an organization, have so much respect for and the people who did come out saying certain things about racial slurs, sexual assault … it’s still allegations.”

https://theundefeated.com/features/state-of-the-black-athlete-nfl-carolina-panthers-quarterback-cam-newton/

[uncfan888]

You're pretty different from the rest of us

[JakeDel5674]

1 minute ago, uncfan888 said:

You're pretty different from the rest of us

Thanks bud. 

[OneBadCat]

Hell yeah

[mc52beast]

OMG Trump is a “racist”... LOL

[Bigchipper]

Race baiting trash...article is garbage.

[CatfanMO]

Nothing new here...Another reporter crying for attention and using racism as the bait...Good job. 

[Snake]

I don't agree with this so your post is not only divisive but racist. 

[Joe the Show]

I've had enough of the Cam Newton over-analysis.  Just let the man play football and stop trying to solve the world's problems by "explaining" cam to us.  If people haven't gotten it yet, they're not going to.  Be the change you want to see.  Don't write about it for clicks.  -end rant-

[RealisticPanther]

People should leave politics out of things, just makes them seem moronic.

Also, people should leave race out of things too unless absolutely necessary.

[GRWatcher]

Of the few 'facts' in the article, one is terribly wrong. Cam did not steal a laptop. Which tells me that the author did nothing more than daydream his thoughts while sitting on his mother's couch and, somehow, figured they were important enough to commit to paper/screen and share. 

[Jangler]

4 minutes ago, GRWatcher said:

Of the few 'facts' in the article, one is terribly wrong. Cam did not steal a laptop. Which tells me that the author did nothing more than daydream his thoughts while sitting on his mother's couch and, somehow, figured they were important enough to commit to paper/screen and share. 

Write something to change people's minds, but leave the one thing that got those minds thinking wrong to begin with...bravo.

 

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

this is why losin' roger goodell is losing tremendous fans, truly a huge number of fans folks, to the XFL

[JakeDel5674]

17 minutes ago, GRWatcher said:

Of the few 'facts' in the article, one is terribly wrong. Cam did not steal a laptop. Which tells me that the author did nothing more than daydream his thoughts while sitting on his mother's couch and, somehow, figured they were important enough to commit to paper/screen and share. 

The author's a female. I think.