Okay, I'm just mad. It's not even Claudia Rankine writing in a particularly convincing, argumentative, or emotional way- she just listed the facts. The section about Serena Williams makes its audience feel Serena's anguish and anger because we as both empathetic and (hopefully) just humans cannot help it.
The chronological order of the barrage of false calls and discrimination against Serena builds up a fire in readers' guts akin to that of Serena's and this is just a few pages, not a lifetime.
I mean, we all know that Billie Jean King faced struggles as a female tennis player, but even so, even with her sexist opposition, when she won that legendary match she won. She was not called on a foot fault or some other trivial rule.
The fact that Rankine writes, "It is believed by winning [Serena] will prove her red-blooded American patriotism and will once and for all become beloved by the tennis world..." (31), proves that white people continue to think that America is white. Obviously that is not true because America was never white, because the Native Americans were here first, and slavery brought black Africans here shortly after. Anyway, the fact that Serena had to prove her Americanness by winning, even though she was already one of the most successful American tennis players, already put her at a disadvantage. It is not a secret that you perform better, work better, when you are supported. Not only was she not being supported by her own country (and would not be even after her successes, as is clear from the commentator's announcements after the 2012 Olympics), but it was like she was on trial. So much pressure is put on black people to succeed because they have to get past the barrier of judgment and discrimination from being black.
It's ridiculous that after she won two of the three American gold medals, she was ridiculed, continuously insulted on live TV in front of the whole country for doing a happy dance. She was hated on for being proud of herself. No, not for being proud of herself- for being proud of herself and being black. White people just can't get the idea out of their heads that being black does not allow you to be anything good. Like the little girl in the first story, who thought that because the little black girl smelled good, she was automatically less black. Serena couldn't be black and be good at tennis.
I'm just pissed. Reading what Serena said to the line umpire that called her foot fault made me so proud, so proud to know that a strong black woman was out there defending herself, because God knows women, particularly black women or black people in general, are not allowed to defend themselves. And then it said she lost the game, had to pay a huge fine, and was suspended for two whole years.
It pisses. Me. Off. It's like every step forward we take, they push us back two more.
The line you quoted begs the question-can we have strong American patriotism/nationalism fully independent of white pride? The current far right political groups seem to be suggest we cannot.
ReplyDeleteYes! I completely agree that African-American people should not have to go so far to prove their Americanness. I am fully considered an American (besides the fact that I'm a woman which is whole other, although not unrelated, issue) just for being born! I did not have to become the world's best female tennis player to be considered as American as any other white girl. People are blind to these situations and many do not realize they are making these types of discriminations, but that's no excuse. Those who are aware need to do more like Claudia Rankine, no matter what your race, gender, sexuality, etc., to make people get the idea. Unfortunately, many people are stuck in their ways and that is easier said than done.
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