The Meaning Of Serena Williams's Journey With Racism

Serena William’s Journey With Racism

Glamour and money are not the only components surrounding sports; many athletes experience what can be considered the dark side of sports. In the article The Meaning of Serena Williams by Claudia Rankine, some not so glamorous aspects of her life are highlighted. One of the most prominent rough parts of her life includes the racism that constantly surrounded her as an athlete. Whether it be the name calling and humiliation, or being paid less compared to a white woman, Serena has endured it all through her career; it is how she handles such cases that promotes her positive character.

This article focuses on the successes and hardships which the famous tennis player Serena Williams has experienced in her

Comments on her physique relate to her race and insinuate “that black women are hyper masculine and unattractive” (Rankine). It can be a difficult moment to endure when people in the same business attack her with comments such as being manly, for example the crude words that president of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpischev, had to say about her. Fortunately, Serena was brought up learning techniques on how to handle these vulgar statements. The article describes her childhood, as she practices tennis and how her father would recruit children to “‘call them every curse word in the English language, including ‘Nigger’” (Rankine). It’s safe to say that children who are not black did not have to endure these degrading moments. Although the technique Serena’s father employed to train his children was harsh, it molded her to have a strong character and not let comments like these have a negative effect on

The author inserts that “this month Forbes listed [Sharapova] as the highest-paid female athlete, worth more than $29 million to Serena’s $24 million” (Rankine), yet it is clear that Serena has had more success in the court compared to Sharpova. The author displays the statistics of Serena’s wins compared to Sharapova 's successes to illustrate how much more Serena has excelled; “Serena leads in their head-to-head matchups 18-2, and has 21 majors and 247 weeks at No. 1 to Sharapova’s five majors and 21 weeks at number 1” (Rankine). It would be illogical to jump to the conclusion that this difference in payment is due to one female being white, while the other is black, but even other professionals have mentioned that this difference in income is due to the individual 's’ looks. The article quoted a distinguished tennis player, Chris Evert, who states that “‘‘[she thinks] the corporate world still loves the good-looking blond girls’”. It definitely appears that Serena’s look is not the right one to get better pay. Although this one comment from a single person does not prove that the contrasting amounts of salary is due to race, it undeniably brings up some controversy on the topic. As for Serena’s view on the topic. her attitude stays positive and she enforces her sportsmanship while stating that “‘[she is] happy for [Sharapova], because she worked hard, too.