Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has grown accustomed to overcoming low expectations. Being an African-American quarterback in America’s National Football Ball League has its own challenges, mainly because most quarterbacks in the NFL are predominately white.
This year Newton and his team are going to the Super Bowl after an incredible 17-1 season. But, unfortunately, what should be a celebration of Newton and his team’s incredible accomplishment has turned into a discussion of the racist double standard African-American athletes like Newton must endure, especially when they become successful.
Newton is a 6’5, 240-pound athletic quarterback who’s redefining his position in more ways than one.
The main complaint critics launch against him involves his “excessive celebration” in the end-zone after scoring a touchdown. Newton has created his special end-zone dance inspired by his nickname, “Superman.” For many Americans, a black man calling himself “Superman” is an outrage in and of itself. For Newton, who plays football for a team located in the deep south, he also has the audacity to be himself and have fun while playing the sport he loves.
Newton loves to dance and celebrate with the fans, often giving a touchdown ball to one of the many excited children waiting in the end-zone. However, many (mostly white) fans, media critics, and even a few players feel that Newton sets a bad example. Newton was asked to address the criticism and his answer set off a sports and social media firestorm.
“I’m an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they haven’t seen nothing that they can compare me to,” he told the Charlotte Observer on January 27.
Here’s a video of Newton putting the criticism into greater context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07PoG2RT7jg
Noland Nawrocki is a sports writer for Pro Football Weekly. When Newton played football for Auburn University, Nawrocki wrote an infamous scathing rebuke of Newton not just as a player but as a human being in general.
“Very disingenuous — has a fake smile, comes off as very scripted and has a selfish, me-first makeup. Always knows where the camera are and plays to them. Has an enormous ego with a sense of entitlement that continually invites trouble and makes him believe he is above the law — does not command respect from teammates and always will struggle to win a locker room. Only a one-year producer. Lacks accountability, focus and trustworthiness — is not punctual, seeks shortcuts and sets a bad example. Immature and has had issues with authority. Not dependable.”
There was also the story of the “Tennesse Mom” who wrote an open letter to Newton following a loss by her beloved Tennessee Titans to the Carolina Panthers.
In the letter, she began by conceding her team’s defeat, in a game which happened to be her daughter’s first live football experience. But then she began to criticize his end zone dancing.
“The chest puffs. The pelvic thrusts. The arrogant struts and the ‘in your face’ taunting of both the Titans’ players and fans.”
Victory dances are very common in the NFL; they have become a tradition over the last few decades. And while criticism over end zone celebrations isn’t new, the volume of the criticism may have never been as loud as is the case with Newton. Here are four interesting videos which examine the Newton end zone celebration controversy from different angles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYdkHuyRaJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auI1HPnYe7g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OirxevvRlJQ
The exchange in the first video showed the most common difference between the perceptions that many Americans have on this topic. For many white Americans, they simply don’t like how some black athletes celebrate victories, and they held and hold the same criticism for athletes like tennis star Serena Williams and boxing legend Muhammad Ali.
The second video touches on how much deeper white discontent for black celebrations goes beyond sports. A commentator mentioned the “laughing barrel.” This was a wooden barrel which slave owners made their slaves laugh into because they didn’t want to see slaves celebrating or having a good time. If a slave did not use the laughing barrel to mute their jubilation, they were severely punished. Ever heard the term “barrel of laughs”?
Success for African-American men and women have similar and unique challenges. For African-American men like Newton, the more success they attain, the more they have to navigate carefully between being true to who they are and reaching an “acceptable” social compromise with white America. For us, it’s a tightrope between staying true to who we are and “selling out” to appease those who don’t appreciate us for being ourselves.
But in Newton’s case, it looks like he’s found his answer, he just keeps working hard and enjoys the fruits of his labors, his way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySilAPr6fW4
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