Editorial: Let’s keep race issues out of Super Bowl
The Panthers are headed to the Super Bowl! This is exciting for North Carolina. But among the enthusiasm is an undertone of a race issue concerning quarterback Cam Newton.
Newton felt the need to address comments about him being a black quarterback and showing actions that reflect his blackness. Newton did not apologize for it. He embraced being black.
He suggested for the first time last week that race may play a factor in why he’s become a lightning rod for public criticism, The Associated Press reported.
“I’m an African-American quarterback that scares people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to,” said the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton.
“People are going to judge, and have opinions on things I don’t have control over,” Newton said.
What difference does it make whether Cam Newton does a special dance or handles himself in other ways as long as he is doing his job without breaking rules? His dancing is so popular, a news report says, that people in a senior living home have been duplicating it. The home most likely has white residents.
Comments about Newton are frivolous. The public needs to let Cam be Cam and the Panthers be the Panthers and let them do their job on Feb. 7 and win the Super Bowl against the Broncos.
