All Articles Tagged "wimbledon"
So Serena Williams’ Victory C-Walk Is a Controversy Now?
Source: missinfo.tv
I love how black people are wrong for expressing any kind of emotion at all, ever. You’d think Americans would be thrilled that another American—albeit an African American—brought home a victory when Serena snagged her first singles gold medal, defeating Maria Sharapova in two sets during Sunday’s Olympic tennis match. But somehow her ode to Compton when she busted out an impromptu c-walk in light of her victory put a damper on the mood for some—unsurprisingly someone at Fox—surprisingly someone black, sports columnist Jason Whitlock.
Addressing the criticism Serena received after she did her dance, and seemingly questioning why she didn’t receive more backlash, the columnist wrote in an article today:
“What Serena did was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church…
“Serena deserved to be criticized and she should’ve immediately apologized. Wimbledon isn’t the place to break out a dance popularized by California Crip gang members. She knows it. That’s why she got embarrassed when asked by reporters to reveal the name of the dance.
“Crip Walking inside an NBA arena that is routinely filled with the sounds of edited versions of popular gangsta rap songs is different from Crip Walking at Wimbledon. That fact has nothing to do with race. It has to do with tradition and atmosphere. Wimbledon is a sports church, falsely prim, proper and respectful.
“Again, Serena deserved to be called out. What she did was immature and classless. She made a mistake, something we all do.
“It’s my belief it was a premeditated mistake. Serena has never been given her proper respect at Wimbledon….
“I bet in a private moment Friday night or Saturday morning, Serena told her sister Venus, ‘I’m going to kick this b*%& a** and Crip Walk all over this crusty-a** place.’”
Mmmkay Uncle Tom, I mean Jason. Allow me to pull out a chair for you as a proper lady would so you can immediately have a seat and think about the mistake you made with this article.
I love the assumed ghetto-girl commentary he attributes to Serena simply because she expressed 13 seconds of joy over an amazing athletic defeat. Premeditated or not, I don’t see the problem with what she did. I’d like to see what Jason would do had he trained to be a great writer for four years then been presented with an award recognizing a dominant triumph over someone else in the field. After reading this, I suppose he’d mosey on in through the back door and tank da committee for dey graciousness toward a negro. Cut it out.
Similarly, L.A. Times‘ writer Bill Plaschke took to twitter to express his disgust with the act, accusing Serena of being too removed from the crip culture, tweeting:
“C-walking at Wimbledon only shows how long she’s been away from home, separated from violence and death associated with that dance”
“Isn’t there some kind of dance done by multi-millionaires who live in exclusive South Florida neighborhoods? That’s shud be Serena’s dance”
Bill, please join Jason at his table for two.
Serena has had her moments when she’s let her anger get the best of her, and according to some, displayed inproper sportsmanship during a match, but to say she can’t celebrate with a victory dance that no one at Wimbledon knew had gang affiliation at one point (as observed by their questions of what the dance was called and suggestions of “the Serena” or “the Wimbledon”) is absurd. Unsurprisingly, Serena thinks so too. She told US Weekly:
“I don’t care. That’s the least of my worries . . . I’m so excited I was able to do the dance. I’m glad I did it!
“It just happened. I was so excited that it just came out,” she said, laughing at the amount of attention the move received. “I guess I’m good at it!”
Jason Whitlock seems to think black people’s defense of Serena’s dance is delusional hypocrisy akin to turning a blind eye to intraracial digressions while labeling a white person doing the same thing a bigot. I happen to find a black man policing a black woman’s behavior under the same racial microscope as the rest of society deplorable and disappointing. It’s not the deep homie.
Here’s a look at Serena’s “tasteless” 13-second c-walk. What are your thoughts on it?
Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.
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Venus Williams Has Sjogren’s Syndrome; Pulls Out of U.S. Open
Tennis queen Venus Williams has been playing the game for years now. She started playing pro at 14, and currently at the age of 31, she has amassed many accolades, including Wimbledon championships and formerly being ranked as the number one female player in the world. But Williams had to pull out of the U.S. Open yesterday, pulling out of her second round match after revealing that she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome.
The disease is said to have some non-serious setbacks and symptoms, such as extreme dry mouth and eyes. It also is said to attack your energy level and joints. But in it’s most extreme form, it can cause joint swelling, kidney and lung disease. Dr. Eric Matteson, chairman of the rheumatology department at the Mayo Clinic said the following about the disease to the Los Angeles Times:
“An athlete might see a very dramatic drop in his or her level of performance, even once the disease is under control. I’d love to see her back at the top of her game,” Matteson said. “But I don’t think it’s a guarantee.”
We’re rooting for Venus over here and hope that she has a mild form of the disease and can get back to the game with no trouble. But it’s clear she needs to take it easy for now.
