New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton took a moment on Thursday to offer his thoughts on a grand jury opting not to charge any officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor.
“Oh, my, well,” began.
“I mean .. it’s … I don’t know. You just have to — and I hate to, you know, be so bland or … like, you’ve just got to side-eye certain situations as an African-American sometimes.
“Well, a lot of times here recently at this country. I believe it was Lamar [Jackson] who just said is the land of the free, but in many than just once have I not felt that that statement applied to people that look like me.”
Newton didn’t stop there, though.
“No matter if they’re a citizen, no matter if they’re a police officer, no matter if they’re rich, poor, whatever. Right is right, and wrong is wrong. And at the end of the day, it’s just all about accountability.
“No matter what your title is before all or at the end of the day, you’re still a human being. And from one human to another, no matter how you look, no matter how you act, no matter how you whatever, I teach my children to treat everybody with respect, just it was taught to me,” he continued.
High risk, high reward. https://t.co/0QeLNOpIk5
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 25, 2020
“Those are the things that were instilled in me and just to go out and knowing that you have a big target on yourself. When your hair looks the way my hair looks, when the confidence looks the way my confidence looks, the way I dress, the way I carry myself, and that’s in essence a turnoff to so many different people.
“But at the end of the day, what makes your way right and what makes my way right or what makes my way wrong or what makes your way wrong? At the end of the day as human beings we have to do right and better about each other.”
More than anything, Newton just wants to see things change.
“When the Breonna Taylor situation happens and you see the outcry of America just in disbelief, it’s … you’re speechless.
“But the sacrifices of the Colin Kaepernicks, the Eric Reids, so many different players who have been in essence boycotted or kind of blackballed or blackmailed from their specific sport, you know, it makes you kind of question or go back to what I just said — side-eye the whole situation. It’s like, Well, you know, what’s really going on here?
“I know that’s a lot that I just said, but at the end of the day, I just pray that we all find it in our heart to do better. And no matter what happens on that specific case — because it’s out of pretty much everybody’s hands, you know, outside of the necessary people — let this be like a a situation that we all can empathize with,” he continued.
That explains it. https://t.co/dio3mGLGhE
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 25, 2020
“No matter if you go into a grocery store, no matter if you go into a gas station, like, let’s just do right by people.
“So I think that’s pretty much how I feel that’s my stance and I just know that we all have a due diligence on this earth to do right by mankind, and I’m just one of those servants that wants to uphold my end of the bargain.”
Fans on Twitter had a wide assortment of reactions to Newton’s sentiments.
It’s a shame that players today buy into this ridiculous narrative. Do we really think that the courts are not following charges on these cops because breonna was black? That’s seriously the narrative?
— 6ix Rings (@6ixringsgonnab7) September 24, 2020
Aye if the police come in your home serving a warrant to the wrong address and kills your loved ones i wonder how u ppl would feel. That’s manslaughter. I drive trucks if i screw up on my job and kill a family or a person i will be charged no different here
— $úćk Mÿ Thöùghtś $wällöw Mÿ Twèétš (@HumbleRuthless1) September 25, 2020
And that’s my quarterback 💯
— aShLeY (@moomoobearbear) September 25, 2020
Y’all keep saying to keep politics outta sports but yet continue to ask Black men about injustice knowing what they are gonna say
— Cameron Smith M.Ed (@Cam_Got_Handz5) September 24, 2020
A very thoughtful intelligent response but some people take offense to it hmmm I wonder why
— Jameson Fountain (@JamesonFountain) September 24, 2020
This response…. I mean could you have answered the question any better? Gamer on the field, and an even better dude off!
— Connor B (@sunjaeims) September 25, 2020
Tell him to shut up
— seanpat70 (@seanpat701) September 24, 2020
Damn, people are actually triggered by this? 🤦
— BHaegs (@bhaegle10) September 24, 2020
This weekend, the Patriots will take on the Las Vegas Raiders and attempt to get back on track following a Week 2 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks.
Newton, 31, has been immensely impressive so far in the early going of this season.
Will he be able to do work against a 2-0 Raiders squad? One way or another, we’ll get an answer this Sunday.
Related: Bruce Arians, Tom Brady Get Brutally Honest About Rob Gronkowski
you need to think aboit what your saying before you saay it. you make no logical sense. stay off the media plarform and just keep throwing footballs, dont be a labrone mimime
Wrong address??? Really? Get “woke”