Serena Williams + White Approval + Unapologetic Blackness by Lawrence Ware

Serena Williams + The White Gaze + Unapologetic Blacknessby Lawrence Ware | @Law_Ware | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
There is a scene in Ryan Coogler’s Creed that makes my allergies act up. Tennis
In the central training montage, Adonis Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan, is running the streets of Philadelphia preparing for his fight with the Heavyweight Champion of the world. As he runs, the film converts the frame to slow motion as young black men from the neighborhood circle him riding ATVs and motorcycles. He’s met the guys earlier in the film, and they’d asked him why we was running. When he told them it was in preparation for a fight, they nodded approvingly.
This scene is so moving to me because it speaks to community. It speaks to the truth that I’ve experienced many times in my life. It reminds me that there are people from my community who believe in me; that support me. In that moment, as the bikes swirled around Creed, he was reminded that he was surrounded by a host of witnesses. They supported him. They would push him. They loved him. He was not fighting for only himself. He was fighting for them as well.
The Williams Sisters are the greatest American sports story of all time. They didn’t come from the right family. They did not attend the right schools. Born in Michigan, they moved to Compton, California, and practiced tennis by hitting balls out of shopping carts. Tennis is not a sport heavy on recruiting and developing new talent. They burst onto the tennis scene and forced the powers that be to come to terms with their athletic brilliance.
While Venus brilliantly paved the way, it is clear that Serena is arguably the greatest athlete this country has produced. On Saturday, Serena claimed her 22nd tennis Grand Slam title, tying Steffi Graf for the most in the Open Era. Yet, what separates her from Graf is that while the latter retired at the age of 30, Williams won 9 since living past her 360th month—and she is still going.
Serena is the embodiment of everything Americans like to think of themselves. She is a rag to riches story. She did things the right way. She never forgot where she came from. So why is she not more celebrated by all Americans?  Usually when Americans enter the realm of international competition, we have a tendency to drape them in the flag. We do it every four years for the Summer Olympics. We do it again during the Winter Olympics. We even do it during the World Cup. Why is Serena not given this kind of national attention from white America? Why do the announcers call her games with so much sarcasm and barely-veiled disdain?
The answer is simple: she is unapologetically black.
One of the greatest sports moments I ever witnessed happened on Saturday, August 4, 2012. On that day, Serena Williams won the gold medal in women’s singles during the 2012 Olympic Games. To celebrate her victory, Williams sea walked on the grounds of Wimbledon.
It is display of blackness like these that keep white America from embracing Serena as one of their own. It is her association with Beyoncé. Her choice to wear the Puma cat suit and embrace her body without acquiescing to white norms of dress and conduct on the tennis court. Serena refuses to be what white America wants her to be. She doesn’t seek their approval, and she does not need it. She has a cloud of witnesses that cheer her on. She has a constituency that will never ask her to be anything other than who she is—who she was raised to be. We got you, Serena. We got us.
The same thing that brings me to tears in Creed is the same reason why I felt a welling of pride when I heard that Williams had won her 22nd Grand Slam. It was the understanding that this was not just about one person. This was about all of us. It was about the kids who are attending underfunded schools being inspired by her. It’s about them coming to the realization that hard work does, in fact, pay off. After the week we had, we needed that moment, however fleeting, of joy.
As Serena held up that trophy and smiled, I smiled too. Like the young black men in the film supporting Adonis Creed, I, too, was able to bear witness. She did it for herself, yes, but she did it for me too.
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Lawrence Ware is an Oklahoma State University Division of Institutional Diversity fellow. He teaches in OSU’s philosophy department and is the diversity coordinator for its Ethics Center. A frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissent magazine, he is also a contributing editor of NewBlackMan (in Exile) and the Democratic Left. He has been a commentator on race and politics for HuffPost Live, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and PRI’s Flashpoint. Follow him on Twitter.