Like many athletes and coaches in recent days, they have been asked to react to the Jacob Blake shooting, which Cam Newton was following Patriots practice Wednesday.
Newton said what is going on the country is "extremely disgusting" at times and he would like to see people come together as one.
“It’s just disheartening," he said via video conference. "I read a quote that when you love something so much (but) it doesn’t show you love back -- I think it was Doc Rivers who said that. I may have said that wrong, but needless to say, what’s going on in this country of ours at times is extremely disgusting. And until we find a fix, I think more than ever we have to unify and become one as much as possible.
"From the Black Lives Matter campaign, from the social injustice, bringing awareness with that and just everybody becoming more aware of certain things and not necessarily turning their ear or turning their face (away from) things that are extremely blatant. It becomes hard being a father. It becomes hard knowing, yeah, what your day job is. But yet we have to use our platform to raise awareness for issues like this.
“And while we’re going through so much, from COVID-19, this is an election year with voting and making everybody aware to vote and having issues that still are pertinent in our society and in our community and still not seeing things done, you just have to stay focused and impact the things you can impact the most. So for me, I do try to bring awareness from the environment that I’m into each and every day. From my children, from having open discussions in the locker room -- not just with all Black players, with Caucasians as well or whatever the race may be. I think that’s the start, that we can impact change in our downright.”
Blake, who is Black, was shot by police on Sunday in Wisconsin when he was trying to get into the driver's side door of his car as police were responding to a domestic disturbance. He is currently in the hospital with serious injuries.