Cam Newton wants any discussion of black quarterbacks in a Super Bowl put away.
The Carolina Panthers quarterback on Tuesday emphatically tried to lay to rest any relevance of an African-American quarterback appearing in the NFL’s championship game.
During a series of questions by a media member that bordered on confrontational, Newton finally said to the reporter: “It’s not an issue. It’s an issue for you.”
Photo: AFP
Carolina’s All-Pro quarterback, seemingly tired of the topic, added: “We shattered that a long time ago.”
This was the third time Newton had to deal with the subject since the Panthers made the Super Bowl. He did not need to point out that several other black quarterbacks have led their teams to the big game: Doug Williams, Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb, Colin Kaepernick and Seattle’s Russell Wilson the past two years.
“I don’t even want to touch on the topic of ‘black quarterback,’ because this game is bigger than black, white or even green,” the fifth-year Panther said. “We limit ourselves when we just label ourselves just black this, that... I want to bring awareness because of that, but yeah, I don’t think I should be labeled just a black quarterback.”
“It’s bigger things in this sport that need to be accomplished,” he added.
Speaking at a media session ahead of this weekend’s NFL decider, Newton said race was relevant only in his ambition to be role model for children.
“When I go places and I talk to kids and I talk to parents and I talk to athletes all over, they look at my story and they see a person — African-American or not — they see something that they can relate to. They see a guy who went a different route than just going to a major Division I school and flourishing there,” Newton said.
“But I just want to become relatable, you know what I’m saying? It’s bigger than race. It’s more so of opening up a door for guys that don’t want to be labeled, that have bigger views and say: ‘Well, I’m in this situation, I’m living in this environment right now, but I also want to be an artist, I want to be a poet, but I don’t have the means, you know, to necessarily do the right things at that point,” Newton said.
“As for me, I just want to give those people hope,” he added.
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