WTF? White people flipping out from the cognative dissonance of seeing something in their realm disturbed just a teensy bit? Zounds!!! Say it ain't so!!! Could this guy have been a White House aide, too? As you know, we don't belong in certain situations, sports, neighborhoods, schools. Even if we make up 70% of the population in a certain area, we'll still get stares if we're the ones at the exclusive school's Spring Festival visiting our kids, who make up .001% of that student body...and don't lead the school's football or basketball teams, as we're supposed to do when "given" such an opportunity, right? ;-)
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Serena Williams says a heckler bothered her throughout her match Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open, making at least one racist remark before he was finally ejected.
``The guy said, `Hit the net like any Negro would.' I was shocked,'' Williams said. ``I couldn't believe it. I had to do a double take. I think I hit a double fault on that point.''
Williams won the third-round match against Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 6-4. Williams complained late in the match to the chair umpire about the heckler.
``I shouldn't have let it bother me, because growing up in Compton we had drive-bys,'' said Williams, who was raised in Los Angeles. ``I guess that's what my dad prepared me for, but I'm not going to stand for it.''
``The guy said, `Hit the net like any Negro would.' I was shocked,'' Williams said. ``I couldn't believe it. I had to do a double take. I think I hit a double fault on that point.''
Williams won the third-round match against Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 6-4. Williams complained late in the match to the chair umpire about the heckler.
``I shouldn't have let it bother me, because growing up in Compton we had drive-bys,'' said Williams, who was raised in Los Angeles. ``I guess that's what my dad prepared me for, but I'm not going to stand for it.''
By the way, the "drive-bys" comment was definitely hyperbole on her part. Come the hell, Serena! No need to exotic-yourself up for Mr. Charlie or impress the ghettofolk.
It is sad, indeed, that we continually let them define us by our least common denominator. Our mudsill. Our bama and ghettofab quotient. Yes we have our self-loathing contingent of tight-assed fools (see, e.g,, Tiger below), but they are not the problem. We give white folks cheap victories and cheapen ourselves. In movies, TV (reality genre especially) and no doubt in the book biz, fanboys and girls...
Serena is more a "threat" than Tiger Woods b/c Tiger has tried to vanilla-ize himself (and he still gets messed with!). Serena has not done this and Serena is not shy and self-effacing. More power to her, her big bama ass and all! You al know I don't give up props to bamas unless there's the word at stake, like the Athenians saying to the 300 Spartans "Thanks, dudes." (n.b. the sacrifice at Thermopalye allowed the Athenians time to evacuate the city and them stage a naval battle at Salamis that destroyed the Persian navy and thus cut Xerxes' army off; that battle at the end of "300" in which the narrator leads the charge was merely the icing on the cake.) So I do give credit when it's due...
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And to add insult to injury, today Serena Williams damn near shut out Maria Sharapova: 6-1, 6-1!
Oh, she's BAD!
I really like your blog!
I heard rumors that it was Black guy who said it.
I totally agree with your critique f the situation.But ESPN aired the footage that made it appear as if Serena was the one at fault.
If it was a brother who said it he was either (1) West Indian or African or (2) on staff with Alberto Gonzales...
And yes she dished it out all over Sharpova's head. Serena's the one Tom Brady should have done...could you imagine the Muscled Monstrous Mulatto that union would produce? I'm being facetious, sure--and Serena and Brady are actually two of the more intelligent and savvy folk in their sports, as quiet as they like to keep it.
Speaking of Mulattos, why are white people all up in arms now that Shia LeBouf--star of Holes, perennial Disney fav and a damn good young actor--has finally come out of the Vin Diesel Honorary Closet and declared his Negritude? His sister, Sabrina, who played the oldest daughter on "Cosby" has been saying it for years and the usual "whaaaat?" has come from the lips of white suburban housewives across the land (sort of the way they went nuts when Ann Hathaway appeared in "Brokeback Mountain" and then went buckwild in "Havoc" with the Mexican gangstas..."yo Princessa de la Diaries...ever have your shit pushed in?")
I am accessing this at work because I know you are online, Chris.
No more social commentary! I want to hear more about our Princetonian Jodi Picoult doing "Wonder Woman" if there are any lessons for the near flops submitted by Brad Metzler and your boy Eric Jerome Dickey. AND who is Cormac McCarthy (Oprah's new book choice?) Is this the same All The Pretty Horses with Mat Damon? Did he write Brokeback Mountain, speaking of Anne Hathaway? I did not see Havoc but I heard it was pretty raw.
Finally, Shia Leboeuf in Holes--was he the kid who looked like one of those "trolls" (i.e. keychains, dolls with the wild hair) from the 60s and 70s? Or was in the golf movie my father digs so much? Also I, Robot? THAT guy is black and is finally admitting it?
Scott
Pardon me for highjacking this thread with a different but highly-related topic.
"White-News" vs. Shaquanda Cotton
Although Shaquanda Cotton, (the 14 year-old Black girl in Texas sentenced to 1-7 years in detention for pushing a school hall monitor at school) has captured the hearts of Black bloggers who are working feverishly to get her released from detention, and the story has been picked up by the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and on government sponsored National Public Radio, still "Shaquanda" has NEVER ONCE been mentioned by white people at DailyKos in stories, diaries or comments. (I don't know about MyDD.) The ostensibly "progressive" DailyKos is a "white-news" perveyor that ignores - even more than the mainstream media - issues that primarily disadvantage Blacks.
Since the Shaquanda Cotton story directly challenges the whitosphere fallacy that whites have become "color-blind," so whitosphere blogs like DailyKos will wilfully ignore this story until and unless it becomes so large that they can no longer pretend that it doesn't exist.
Thankfully, the Blackosphere now has the pull to drive stories like this one directly into the mainstream media, without permission or assistance from whitosphere blogs.
Continued at the Francis L. Holland Blog.
What the hell is a 'bama ass? How does it differ from a B-more ass?
My wife and I both love Serena and to some extent, Venus. Venus whines too much. Both are more enjoyable than the euro-chicks on the tour.
Tennis has become coarse. My problem with the girls are the outfits they wear. Serena doesn't need to wear a laced back top. I'm not saying the U.S. Open should go to all white outfits, but it sure does look good.
A-holes like you described are part of the descent. You can't improve the popularity of tennis by emulating the NBA, NFL, or that matter, the NHL. If they served cucumber sandwiches at these matches, things would be better. Ever had one?
And I mean sliced cucumbers on bread!
Chris
Cant stand talking to you by email
call me when I am in DC next week I am at the RC - Leave a number so we can catch up on days since Old Nassau....
MPF 82
Francis: no offense taken on the hijack. I was going to do a post on this situation as well...comparing it to (1) the two white female teachers in SC who abused black boys and are out on bail and (2) the Haitians who get turned away yet the Cubans who come here for the cable TV and yet are welcomed as citizens as long as they reach a beach.
Indespensible: Tennis is coarse not because of the Williams' outfits...look to the marketing! Corporations can't make money unless they have the draw. Serena pulls folks in, dollars in. If she started wearing the outfits that Athea Gibson did in the 50s when folks booed he and called her nigger bitch from the gallery, well, that means less money.
MPF--where are you now?
I think Serena Williams is flamboyant and exciting. That is good for tennis. Her personal demeanor seems very sincere, ebullient which is unlike many other male professional athletes. She is, therefore, a true role model in my mind.
Oh, Hottentot Serena...
You're still young, so I'm going to excuse the fact that you might not have known what the hell to say to the press about that irreprehensible incident, but did you really have to go here:
"I guess that's what my dad prepared me for..."
WTF?
Like he (what's that crazy dad of yours' name?) really would have raised you all in the 'hood if there was another choice? I seriously doubt he ever said "Daddy wants you to witness these drivebys and carjackings so you'll know how to deal with racist rednecks later on..." That doesn't even make sense. Didn't he have you out there on those damn courts every damn day so you all could get the hell out? No decent daddy wants his daughters to struggle.
Serena may be a bit bammafied (you said that, Mr. C, not me), but I know that girl knows better.
To her credit, however, growing up where drivebys happen regularly is really not the best training ground for dealing with racist insults.
Live and learn, I suppose. Hopefully.
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