Cam Newton visits families of Charleston victims; Panthers oppose Confederate flag

The Carolina Panthers have responded to last week's Charleston shooting with words, funds and now deeds.

Cam Newton visited several families of victims on Monday, bringing a bit of much-needed cheer to their lives:

Newton's appearance showed up on social media rather than official news channels. He visited the family of Tywanza Sanders, who died trying to protect his aunt, and the family of Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, who also died in the attack.

Panthers owner Jerry Richardson over the weekend donated $100,000 to the families of the victims of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting. The money was to be divided evenly among the nine victims' families, with the remainder going to a memorial fund for the church.

The Panthers as an organization have also joined in the more political aspect of the tragedy. The alleged shooter's affiliation with the Confederate flag has led many government officials to call on South Carolina to remove the flag from its Capitol grounds, and the Panthers have joined in that effort.

“Our organization prides itself on bringing people together,” Panthers spokesman Steven Drummond told the Charlotte Observer. “Divisive symbols and actions should not stand in conflict to progress, healing and the unification of all our citizens.”

The Confederate flag has flown at the South Carolina Capitol grounds since it was raised in 1962, during the heart of the Civil Rights movement, to commemorate the centennial of the Civil War. (The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in 1861, within sight of Charleston.) A legislative compromise in 2000 removed the flag from the dome of the capitol and placed it at a nearby Confederate monument. Any removal of the flag would require legislative approval, though public pressure to remove the flag has ratcheted up significantly in the days since the shooting.

“We’re not going to allow this symbol to divide us any longer,” Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said on Monday. “The fact that people are choosing to use it as a sign of hate is something we cannot stand. The fact that it causes pain to so many is enough to move it from the Capitol grounds.”

Officials at the University of South Carolina's athletics department have joined in the effort to remove the flag from state grounds. Cleveland Browns quarterback Connor Shaw, who played for South Carolina, posted a similar view on Twitter:

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.

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