Posted on 05/08/2003 8:42:21 AM PDT by Jakarta ex-pat
In an interview with the French magazine L'Equipe on Saturday, Richard Williams blasted the tennis world for racism and claimed no one will ever defeat his daughters, Serena and Venus.
Williams addressed critics who say that his daughters appearing in every final is making tennis boring.
"So women's tennis is getting boring. And you know why? Because two lovely black women dominate it. They're better than the white girls, and that's intolerable. It's downgrading, lamentable," Williams said.
Williams said his daughters were the victims of racist prejudice from within the tennis world.
"They're disturbed by our being there. They've tried everything they could to tame us, to recuperate (sic) us and, when they couldn't, they said I was a madman."
Williams also said he will never salute the flag because of racism in America.
"It has no meaning for me," he said.
Williams added that his daughters were dominating the game because they had stolen the best shots from their rivals.
"The whites have always said that black people were robbers. My daughters are robbers. They're going to rob you of your best shot and make it our best shot. My daughters are the best two robbers in the world."
If you ever watch one of their matches, you will notice that their mother claps after every good point whether its by one of the sisters or by their opponent. Plus, since their parents' divorce, it is their mother who travels with them around the world.
"Williams said his daughters were the victims of racist prejudice from within the tennis world."
I'm not prejudiced against Serena Williams because she is black. But, I strongly dislike Serena Williams because she posed for photos sitting on a U.S. flag that was dragging on the ground.
"Williams also said he will never salute the flag because of racism in America."
Obviously his contempt and hatred rubbed off on Serena.
""It has no meaning for me," he said."
Maybe not fair, but a logical conclusion based on three facts; (1) Richard Williams' attitudes and statements about the flag, (2) Richard Williams raised Serena, (3) Serena sat on the flag.
Serena Williams sitting on the U.S. flag could mean a lot of things; (1) she was too giddy to notice, (2) she is too ignorant to know any better, (3) she doesn't care one way or the other because that's the way she was raised, or, (4) it was intentional and she was expressing her contempt for the U.S. flag taught to her by her father Richard Williams.
In view of Richard Williams' comments, number (4) seems the most likely, (3) and (2) also quite likely, and (1) not likely. If Richard Williams had carefully instructed Serena in matters of patriotism and flag etiquette, it's doubtful she would have sat on a U.S. flag, let alone sit on a U.S. flag dragging on the ground.
It looks like whoever put it there had no clue in the first place.
This seems like a good explanation. Whoever put the U.S. flag on the ground for Serena Williams to pose sitting on, also had other national flags dragging on the ground. But, if Richard Williams had carefully instructed his daughters as carefully in matters of patriotism and flag etiquette, as he probably did in tennis etiquette, it's doubtful Serena would have done this.
Look how far down they placed the flag. Looked more like a quick photo op.
I'd say two possibilities for this; (1) a staffer working for Australian National Open and photographers from the press pool set up the photo opportunity with the flags dragging on the ground and didn't know any better, or (2) a staffer and photographers wanted to make a negative statement about flags.
I wonder if William Carney would kick Richard Williams' ass.
I'd like to see proof, a photo would do for starters, please give date and source.
No, I really don't. That's a silly question.
But, here's how I would like that photo opportunity to have turned out for Serena Williams and her fellow Americans. Serena Williams looks at the photo set up, and says; "No, I don't like that. The flag of my country shouldn't be dragging on the ground." (She then picks up the flag from the ground). Serena continues; "And, here. What's this? The flags of France and Australia dragging on the ground? What kind of a person do you think I am? I was raised to respect the flag of the country that has given me these wonderful opportunities and to respect other people's flags. Change this set up."
But, in answer to your silly question; it is true that in light of the facts I do not consider Serena Williams to be worthy of the respect that I show to most of my fellow Americans.
Serena Williams is a great athlete and very succesful. Athletic gifts, sexy bodies, great smiles, bright lights, fame, fortune, glowing press reports and hordes of butt-kissing fans do not make anybody a good role model, good citizen or a righteous person. There is nothing about Serena Williams that justifies hatred of Serena Williams, or hatred of her father for that matter.
Jealous of her backhand? Her baseline game?
I didn't take anything out of context. There are at least ten different photos of Serena Williams, in different poses with the U.S. flag on the ground. In a couple of the photos, the flags of France, United Kingdom, Australia and the U.S. are all seen dragging on the ground. Celebrating something is not a reason to drag any flags on the ground. Celebration is certainly not a reason to drag the U.S. flag on the ground.
And then mabelkitty wrote; (2) Therefore, your diatribe should actually be directed toward the Art Director and Photographer for deliberately setting her up for attacks such as this.
My diatribe, (:>). Any criticism of "the Art Director and Photographer" takes second place to criticism of Serena Williams, unless you can prove they physically threatened her or her family, e.g., pointed a gun at her head and told her to pose with the U.S. flag on the ground, or else. You can argue that the people that set up the photo shoot caused the flags to be on the ground, but Serena could have stopped that at anytime and told them to change it. I don't see any evidence of conspiracy by the photographers to compromise Serena, but I do see Serena sitting on the flag and have read what her father said, according to news reports.
(3) then mablekitty wrote; She is very young, focused, and may not have been aware at that particular time that she was causing distress.
Ah, yes, the giddy youth excuse for followed by the evil paparazzi excuse as mablekitty wrote; Not unlike Princess Diana when she was asked to stand in front of the sun so her skirt would be see-through. It was a deliberate attempt to embarrass her.
I hold myself and all my fellow Americans including Serena Williams to the same expectations and standards, and clearly, some people have lower expectations of Serena Williams than I do.
Okay, you just loathe Serena Williams.
Jealous of her backhand? Her baseline game?
Give it up Catspaw.
For some reason I don't understand yet, you are wallowing in the sewer, using insinuation and innuendo to accuse me of hating Serena Williams, then loathing Serena Williams, then being jealous of Serena Williams. I not only hold myself and Serena Williams and Free Republic to a higher standard, I hold you to a higher standard too.
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