Serena showed Black girls like my daughters that they have to be confident and proud of themselves, because the larger society is not always going to encourage their Black Girl Magic
, when she was wearing the beads, and even with her outfits, she was thumbing her nose at all of her critics and walking in defiance. She was saying something along the lines of: “I’m proud of who I am, proud of my body, proud of where I come from and I am going to be me no matter what you think. And I’m going to dominate in a sport you think is not meant for me.”
That was a message to Black girls everywhere that they too didn’t have to conform and could be who they were in spite of society attempting to force onto them their standard of beauty for gaining their acceptance. Some may think I’m overstating Serena’s influence but remember historically how Black women have been ridiculed in the US for their lips, skin tone, hair, body type and nose, while America has held skinniness, white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes as the standard of beauty. In contrast, Black women have had their self-confidence, self-worth and self-pride attacked by mainstream America for decades. “Serena became an activist for Black Beauty,” Smith told me.
Serena also sent a message that you can speak your mind and stand up for yourself by boycotting Indian Wells after suffering racial abuse in 2001. She revealed the depths of her pain inannouncing her return to the California tournament after a 14-year absence. “The false allegations – that our matches were fixed – hurt, cut and ripped into us deeply. The undercurrent of racism was painful, confusing and unfair,” she wrote. “This haunted me for a long time.
Not to mention her going public about almost losing her life after a blood clot scare while giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia. Serena
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