Serena Williams owes Naomi Osaka and Black Women an Apology, her Issues have been RACISM, not SEXISM…
Serena’s unhinged outbursts in yesterday’s US Open Championship, was an embarrassment and an eyeopener to who and what she’s become. We can go back and forth on what other male players have said and gotten away with, one has nothing to do with the other in this case. Serena’s issues over her career have not been because she was a woman but because she was Black. It’s disingenuous of those who claim to be woke, to not acknowledge that Serena used every liberal and feminists excuse, except for the real issue that’s plagued her career; her skin color.
This intersectionality game that Feminist play to ensure that White women are the real benefactors in all things related to womanhood and civil rights, is becoming irritating. The fact that Serena did not acknowledge her Blackness as the real issue she has been constantly discriminated against, was a slap in the face for Black women and more importantly Black female athletes. Serena has attempted to use her giving birth and being a mother as somehow a foreign thing in women’s sports. She has also bought into the social media hype and White liberals newfound love and praise for her because she’s a mother.
Earth to Serena, you are not the first woman to have a baby and you are also not the first professional athlete to continue to play while pregnant.
Serena has clearly been brainwashed into pushing false narratives to pacify white supremacy. She seems to think that her money and her new husband have somehow erased the fact that she’s still a Black woman. Serena’s fight seems to be more about being accepted by White women and identifying with their struggles as appose to actually standing up and speaking the truth about why she’s endured her many issues over the years. Serena seems to bask in her love of White acceptance, from her friendship with Anna Wintour; a rich White woman (Vogue Editor, who’s old enough to be her mother and would clutch her purse if she saw a Black woman who looks like Serena walking towards her, if she were not Serena William), to the fact that she fills her tennis boxes wherever she goes with rich celebrities (usually White).
I would have had some respect for Serena had she actually told the truth and said that 99% of the issues she has had to deal with as a player, were in fact because she was a Black woman, and had nothing to do with her gender. However, I don’t think either was the case on yesterday. Serena saw that she was losing to Osaka and instead of ending her verbal attacks on the umpire, she amped them up in an attempt to not only try to get into the head of Osaka, and to rile up the fans in support but to also hopefully stop the impending beating she was clearly about to endure. Serena invoking her being a mother and then tearfully screaming about sexism, was a slap in the face for real female activism. The many times she was overlooked as the face of Sports Illustrated or other magazines after winning Championships, but instead the face of White and blonde loser; Anna Kournikova was their choice, had everything to do with racism. The many times she has been checked for doping, has nothing to do with her being a woman but everything to do with her being Black. The many times she has been called monkey, too masculine, or a man; had nothing to do with her being female. The words White people have used to describe her muscular physic, had nothing to do with her being female, but everything to do with her being Black. The words many officials and tennis announcers have used to describe she and her sister over the years had nothing to do with their being women.
The issues that her father, she and her sister endured over the years had nothing to do with their genders but everything to do with their being Black, and Black women who were breaking the White female dominated sport of tennis, and doing so while being coached by their dad ( a poor and uneducated Black man) instead of some White, high-priced million dollar a year coach. Serena’s complete erasure of those facts makes all that she’s said null and void. I once saw Serena as inspirational but now I see her as just another rich Black athlete, who’s voice has been co-opted by white liberals and corporate media’s agendas. Serena was clearly pandering to political winds of feminist resistance and to her White feminists handlers and celebrity friends. She had the audacity to stand on the stage and yell to her disrespectful and booing fans, that “we will get through this”…and that she was playing tennis for women’s rights. What a slap in the face to everything her Black father has gone through to push her to that level, to now say that her playing is for women’s rights.
Osaka was so devastated by what was happening that after seeing the umpire give her a game (and witnessing Serena’s epic meltdown), it was clear that she purposely lost the next game to give Serena the point back. Also, to those of you who are heaping praise on Serena for asking the crowd to not boo Osaka, you clearly didn’t watch the entire match or Serena’s actions leading up to her saying that. Serena purposely riled up her fans in the stadium and then after seeing how devastated Osaka was, she realized what she had done and tried to dial it back.
If Serena was really the political voice for women that she claims to be, she would have acknowledged the powerful moment of two Black women competing in a US Open Championship who were not sisters, she would have acknowledged how far Black women have come in professional tennis. She would have expounded on what an amazing tennis player Naomi Osaka was and that no matter the penalties she was still facing an uphill battle. She would have only injected feminism after she stood firm on professional tennis’ history with racism against her, her sister and her father. She would not have made it about her and neither would the equally disgraceful USTA ‘Black’ Chairman, who also took away the victory of Osaka by basically admonishing her and saying that this was not the win we wanted. Katrina Adams should be publicly shamed for her inappropriate words and behavior, if not removed completely.
Watching Naomi sitting in her chair after her win, in tears and covering her head with her towel as the fans booed, watching her stand on the stage to receive what should have been her special moment, but instead, again covering her face in shame and tears, was an epic setback for women’s tennis and women in professional sports. I literally broke down in tears watching her apologize for her win, a win that was inevitable and a Championship she deserved. Osaka, not only outplayed Serena yesterday and by the way, also beat her a few months ago as well, Osaka also outclassed her. Serena can play the feminist card all she likes but nothing will ever erase the fact that her problems in tennis have stemmed from her being Black, no matter what her need to be loved and accepted by White women or her White handlers want her to say.
Serena’s bullying temperament when she is losing and her unbelievable arrogance on demanding an apology, proves that she has sadly became no different than the very people who were once obstacles in her way, the only one she will never achieve is being White.
Lastly, Naomi Osaka was the only Champion and Roll Model in this entire fiasco, and she is also the only individual who is ultimately owed an apology by all.
From Russia With Love,
Charlie Peach
