Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton wore a shirt with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. as a protest for the recent events occurred in Charlotte over the police violence against black people. He wore it during the pregame of the Sunday’s match against the Minnesota Vikings.
The quote comes from a famous letter written by King: “letter from a Birmingham Jail”, saying “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Football players are not allowed to wear any shirt they want during the game given the severe uniform codes imposed by many leagues; however, athletes have used pregame clothes to make social statements.
Newton showed his resentment through this silent protest which was started by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. It has rapidly spread across the NFL players after the intense protests in Charlotte north Caroline, soon after another black man, Keith L. Scott was killed without justification by a police officer.
Newton asks for social justice
Quite often when a social injustice takes place in the united stated, the football players join and protest in some sort of way. It has brought in some cases punishments and complaints about the players involved. But they have found a way to keep doing so without breaking the rules set by their team’ directives.
For example, various NBA members wore shirts when Eric Garner was killed at the hands of New York police officers in July 2014. The shirts said: “I can’t breathe”. Another case happened last July when some Minnesota Lynx players wore shirts supporting the ‘Black lives matter’ movement.
And now, it is Cam Newton from the Carolina Panthers, who protest because of the racial violence and considering the clash between civilians and officers in Charlotte due to the death of Keith L. Scott last Tuesday. The MLK’s quote comes from a letter King wrote after being arrested during a protest in Birmingham, Alabama, where he says that he couldn’t sit idly without being concerned about the situation in Birmingham. He asked for justice while saying we can’t afford to live with the ‘outside agitator’ idea, since if one is affected everyone in the United States will be.
As well, Colin follows the initiative of Colin Kaepernick who continues to take a knee during the national anthem against racial issues and exaggerated police violence. As well, Kaepernick said that because of that he has received plenty of death threats and said he would not alarm the security staff but assured that if something were to happen to him that would be the reason.
The real problem is how people treat one another
But Newton’s actions didn’t stop there, he also said that it is embarrassing that this kind of things continues to happen and that he would like to have more details about Tuesday shooting in North Carolina, though his head coach said that issues regarding the shooting are more suited for political leaders and not for athletes.
Newton affirmed he knows it is a delicate issue but said he is in a position where whether he says something or not, he will receive critiques.
“The real problem is and will always be the people and how we treat one another,” said Newton via Instagram in support of Kaepernick’s protests.
Source: The Bleacher Report