Williams Sisters Must Continue Boycott Of Indian Wells Event

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The WTA Indian Wells event starts this week in Palm Springs California. The D list of the WTA tour such as Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, and Lindsay Davenport will be competing. The best players on the WTA Tour world number one Justine Henin and the Williams Sisters of course are skipping the event.

The only marquee player at Indian Wells is Australian Open champion Maria Sharapova. Sharapova is the new white “It” girl of the WTA. The WTA are attempting to market Sharapova but she is bland and boring. Sharapova has no personality she is aloof, arrogant, and has a haughty attitude.

The bottom line is, the only superstars on the WTA are the Williams Sisters. The organizers of the Indian Wells event have paid the ultimate price by not apologizing to Venus, Serena, and Richard Williams for the pernicious racism at the 2001 event.By contrast, the ATP Tour Masters event all the top male tennis players will be playing the event. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal will be there. ESPN television is not even televising the Indian Wells or Miami Masters events this year. ESPN already has a full plate with the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships.

I will never forget watching ESPN television and being so angry and disgusted at the white lynch mob screaming at Serena Williams. Serena was only nineteen years old in 2001 she was competing against the Belgian Kim Clijsters in the finals and she won 4-6 6-4 6-2. Serena has incredible mental strength to be able to block out the racist crowd focus on her tennis and win the match. The incident was an ugly example of the bigotry against the Williams Sisters. The most disgusting aspect of this nightmare was it took place on American soil.

Also disconcerting was reading the covert racist articles by white American journalists such as Jon Wertheim and Greg Garber defending and attempting to minimize the racist incident. Wertheim and Garber are racists along with the lynch mob at Indian Wells. Since Wertheim and Garber are both the mythical norm I shouldn’t be surprised by their pernicious bigotry.

The incident was clearly an example of white supremacy it is easy to point out. The question has to be asked would a white female tennis player ever be treated so harshly and so unfairly? This kind of racist treatment would never happen to a white female tennis player. You have one black American girl Serena Williams on the tennis court the rich white crowd are screams at every single shot she hits.

Next, you have a packed stadium of several thousand rich white Americans going overboard cheers for her foreign born white opponent. The audacity and the perfidious attitude of the American media was also abhorrent. The United States has a long way to go in race relations and the Indian Wells incident was a perfect example of this. It is simply outrageous that anyone can actually deny this incident was not an example of white supremacy and white skin privilege. The Indian Wells organizers should be ashamed of themselves they don’t have an ounce of credibility. Sometimes I feel the Williams Sisters get more respect when they play internationally then when they compete in the United States.

The white upper class audience claps at every single mistake and error Serena made even though Serena is American. Serena may be an American champion but she’s not white and Kim Clijsters is. The whiteness was the unifying factor for the rich upper class crowd they have no respect for black people in Indian Wells. The white country club crowd claim that because Venus pulled out minutes prior to their semifinal match that the result was fixed. However, Venus consulted with the WTA and she was unable to play. The country club crowd unleashed their irrational anger at Serena. The incident was a perfect example of racism and sexism against black women. Although Richard Williams the father of Venus and Serena can be confrontational at times I believe him when he said he heard racist slurs during the match.The Williams family have kept their vow never to play Indian Wells ever again and it has now been seven years since they played the event.

The absence of the Williams Sisters weakens the women’s event in Indian Wells. It also underscores the serious issue of race relations in professional tennis. It is obvious to the discerning eye the WTA does not care about discrimination against non white tennis players. The WTA have refused to force the organizers of the Indian Wells event to make a formal public apology to the Williams Sisters and their father Richard in front of the world media.

The WTA’s president Larry Scott is actually attempting to force Venus and Serena to play Indian Wells in 2009. Does Larry Scott have any morals or class? However, Richard Williams has made it clear he might take the WTA to court if Larry Scott even thinks about trying to fine the Williams Sisters. The reason Larry Scott and the Indian Wells organizers want the Williams Sisters to play Indian Wells is because they are the only bankable stars on the WTA Tour.

Tennis fans flock to every single event the Williams Sisters compete in they are money makers. So instead of making a formal public apology the pathetic and racist Indian Wells event organizers are trying to upset the Williams family even more. The Williams family must never play Indian Wells ever again because the message needs to be sent that racism and sexism is unacceptable in professional sports. Some sports reporters are trying to say the Williams family are being a bit overtly sensitive. It is obvious to me these sports reporters they are just racist and refuse to see reality.

The racist attitude of the American sports establishment and their views of black women is the real issue here. If a white female tennis player was booed by an all black audience you better believe the white media would immediately support that white female tennis player. However, when a black woman tennis player is booed by an all white upper class privileged crowd there is only apathy and indifference. It just goes to show how racist professional tennis still is.

The status of the event is no longer tier I the event now has a lower status among the other top women. The WTA Indian Wells event is a complete joke nobody cares that Daniela Hantuchova beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the women’s finals last year. Kuznetsova and Hantuchova are D list players they may be highly ranked but nobody outside the tennis world cares about them.

The Williams Sisters absence at the Indian Wells event has reduced the star quality of the event it now has a D list status. Most of the top women skip Indian Wells in favor of playing the more important WTA event in Miami at the end of March anyway. The white feminist Billie Jean King and Chris Evert the termagant former tennis player are part owners of the Indian Wells event along with the washed up former champion Pete Sampras.

Billie Jean King and Chris Evert are both a disgrace to women’s tennis. Both women pretend to be ambassadors of the game. Are Evert and King only against discrimination that affects rich and privileged white females? Black women encounter multiple layers of oppression in relation to their race and gender. Both Evert and King have been silent about the Indian Wells incident for the past seven years. Does Billie Jean King or Chris Evert have any class at all? Why are King and Evert still reticent after all these years? King and Evert have a responsibility to speak out against the discrimination against the Williams Sisters at Indian Wells. However, King and Evert’s silence speaks volumes about the kind of people they really are.

I applaud the Williams family for standing by their principles. The WTA Indian Wells event will be a complete bore this year just like last year and the previous years. I can’t wait until the end of March to see the Williams Sisters play the more prestigious Miami event.