This might come as a shock to you, as it did to me. All the TV coverage, news and magazines had blinded me from what is such an obvious truth. Two gifted, black women enter a dominantly white sport, excel and make history... Only to be treated more like they had slept with the "master".
Serena has been told to "hit the ball into the net like any negro would", been called a nigger and her, her sister and african-american friends are not treated in the 1st class treatment we would all expect. Williams has reported on umpires being racist aswell, never-the-less she continues to win over all of that. Respect to her and all the black sportsmen who has/are conquering despite this adversity.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. It threw me off," Williams, who lives in nearby Palm Beach Gardens, said of the abuse at her 'home event'. "I shouldn't have let it bother me because growing up in Compton, in Los Angeles, we had drive-by shootings, and I guess that's what my dad prepared me for, but I'm not going to stand for it." Garrison, a former Wimbledon finalist who has close links with the Williams family, and who also suffered occasional racist abuse during her playing days, said that, even for someone as mentally strong as Serena, racist insults are still extremely hurtful.
Sometimes I live in a world without flaw. Wake up calls happen once in a while. This being one of them. We have a longggggggggggg way to go. Have we even gotten on the bus? I pray she rules the sport till she's 50.
Tiger's story for today