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I don't know if the decisions made against Serena by the officials were racist, I don't know enough about tennis to make that judgement; but I DO believe this cartoon is racist. Not just because of it's depiction of Serena, but because they replaced the TRUE image of Naomi (who is half African and half East Asian) with that of a blond Caucasian girl which was meant to INVOKE as well as PLAY ON certain racist stereotypes. If they'd just put out the grotesque picture of Serena by herself having a fit, the agrument could have been made that it was NOT racist. But when it's wedded to the picture of petite white girl who appears to be confused and innocent while someone telling her to LET Serena win....it was clearly meant to invoke feelings of resentment harbored in the hearts of many Caucasians who feel that Africans are too priviledged already.

The people going on shooting sprees and those who become victims of the oxicodone, are more likely to be dysfunctional middle class whites, than ignorant snaggle-toothed Trump supporters high on meth, open carrying their assault rifles more for show than mass killings. You waste your empathy of these underclass whites who put Trump in office. You fall into the same category as the bleeding heart liberals who make excuses for these so-called victims. I can say with just as much conviction that they are not sympathetic characters but are bigots who did feel their white entitlement was threatened. Observe them at Trump rallies and listen to them in interviews. They bristle with resentment toward people not conditions. Kanye talked about slavery being a choice and he was wrong because black people were physically and mentally shackled. But for the millions of slovenly, indigent white folks, subsisting on government handouts is a choice. No matter how bad their schools, they are still better-funded and operated than black ones. They need only to make an effort to get their act together and these whites are free to seek their fortune, secure in the knowledge that their white skin privilege is their ticket to a better life. Compare whites and blacks to their peers when asking the question who is better off. A poor white person is better off than a poor black person, and a middle class white person is better off then a middle class black one. A middle class black person is only better off than a poor white person because he has shown more ambition but his status doesn't immunize him against racism.

No way.

That is a good point @Cynique. Mental shackles are often FAR more effective than the physical ones. With that in mind, maybe you can generate a little more understanding for your fellow man. Being from Chicago, and having to constantly hear about all the Black on Black shootings, surely you don't believe our treatment in the country is not partially to blame. WHAT?! I completely missed that fact that Oska had a blond ponytail! (What is it with Black women and blond hair) At any rate, I'm compelled to go back to my original sentiment since the cartoon is actually a more accurate depiction of Naomi than I thought. Perception is everything. "We see what we want to see." Deep! I'm actually liking the cartoon more now as it is so revealing...

What?! @Cynique you led this conversation with the Nike ad, then went on to THANK Nike for helping Colin. Cynique you are absolutely hold Michael Jordan to a different standard that Colin. Indeed using your argument I can say that Colin is helping to exploit works by helping Nike. Workers feared for their lives in one incident when 28 people collapsed rushing to escape a fire at a factory supplying Nike. -Cambodia 2017 Nike factory worker shares story of abusive working conditions -- Thailand, 2016 Nike factory worker shares story of abusive working conditions - Vietnam, 2018 Workers at the plant – owned by the world's largest maker of sneakers, Yue Yuen – earn as little as $1.67 an hour making shoes that can sell for up to 100 times as much in the United States. -- China 2014 The gratitude afforded Nike is the notion that I reject, simply because Nike only cares for Colin in so far as he can generate revenue for them -- no different that the master that feeds and provides shelter for his slave. @Chevdove I believe one can support Colin AND reject Nike. I can also believe one can support Colin AND be critical of his tactics. Colin is not sancrocant or above critic -- no one man is. Indeed this critique can help him be more effective... coming from the right people.

@Troy Yes, this may be the underlying reason. @Mel Hopkins Whew! You know there are so many times I have witnessed scenes where in the case of a customer complaining about an employee that the management will support their own employee, but not when it comes to a Black woman. And the insensitive comment of the quote you put, shows how pampered Europeans can be and how supremacist they are in their viewpoint, when it comes to Black women. @Troy I don't know..... I don't think you would see White women lynched...and so even though Black men have a jump ahead of women across the board for some things, however, not for all things, even with the right to vote.

The coach of Serena Williams broke the rules by hand-signaling to her from his seat in the stands. This triggered an escalating argument between her and the judge which ended with her being penalized a game after throwing a tantrum, and destroying her racquet. Just recently during a game, a female tennis player took off her top because it was on backwards and she wanted to straighten it out. She was reprimanded for this although male tennis players take off their shirts all the time. Coaches routinely communicate with their players from the stands in violation of the rules. Male tennis players get away with what Serena was drastically penalized for. Dating back to the era of Jimmy Connors and john McEnroe on up to the present male players rant at judges and violently react to disputed calls without stiff penalties. The take-away from this for me is that Serena was a victim of sexism, the same consensus among most of her white female colleagues. The cartoon was a caricature, - a depiction of what actually happened. In real life, the slender Naomi's pony tail actually was blond, and in the cartoon her skin tone is slightly shaded, a darker hue than that of the umpire. We see what we want to see. Lately, Serena seems more interested in championing motherhood, constantly making reference to her guilt about being away from her baby, appointing herself as a representative for all the women who encounter problems when returning to work after childbirth, - all in an effort to prove that she's still got it. Serena is rich and famous, a multi-millionaire and the best female tennis player in the world with trophies and plaques to prove this. She has enjoyed a long and legendary reign, amassing a record number of grand slam wins. But a new day is on the horizon. She should retire gracefully and go out on top, imo.

@Troy if you drove an expensive car into Alabama found the lowest class white person and insulted them, would your class protect you? Class like race is a construct unlike countries that have royalty. Its all about divide and conquer. No amount of money will white wash dark complexion. If yiy believe that your class protects you, then we had better put you on the endangered species list.

Troy you are right but also wrong. Who is defending poor whites Donald J Trump nominally while they get pick pocketed. Master overseer slave it still works. Actually his message is for disenfranchised whit's who are more concerned with maintain their perceived superiority than fairness justice or liberty for all.

The pecking order white male white female black male black female. The White Male is the main character in history and culture, everyone else has varying levels of invisibility. You can also add sexual orientation and cultural/country to the mix. Gay white men would be situated between straight white men and straight whute women. So men talk down to women and whites talk down to blacks. So the more powerf you have the easier it is us to dismiss those below you or simply not validate their existence. Even insults are asymptomatic

Here's a perfect example of what I was referring to earlier. This comment was in response to my answer about a low point in my flight attendant career. As far as society is concerned, black women aren't allowed to display human frailties. This is what Serena has been dealing with her whole career but on a global scale. It is actually more than frustrating; it's infuriating. But as the Angel Maya Angelou wrote "Still [we] rise". typical. You are American so you can et away wit anything bc you're black. You are propagating the reality in your country tat black American females are aggressive and cannot control themselves. I am glad you shared this. o hand btw try tis in Europe sweetie and you will be fined or arrested. black women are not allowed to attack anyone especially white women in beautiful cultured Europe. no black entitlement special status bc of slavery tat happened 200 yrs ago wen black on white crime is the norm. which is why I live in Western Europe.<3 you do your job THEY should have fired you. Any classy airline would but you work for an American company. you are incompetent and bc you are black they are afraid to. psycho. You are a servant in the air nothing more. Quora https://www.quora.com/As-a-flight-attendant-whats-the-dirtiest-thing-you-have-done-during-a-flight/answer/Mel-Hopkins-1/comment/72884111?__nsrc__=4&__snid3__=3214182566

D. All of the above.

Now was the cartoonist engaging in satire, a racist trying to put her in her place by demeaning her, or reflecting a culture that elevates whiteness and marginalizes Blackness subtly, directly, and everything in between? I doubt Serena's reaction was just about that specific penalty, but a culmination of a entire career of unfair treatment (perceived or otherwise). When people fly off the handle that way it usually is not about that specific event, but more like the straw that broke the camel's back.

I would argue that the work had two protagonists: Hurston herself because of her goal to keep Kossola talking and thereby transcribe his life to text, and the other being Kossola because the text was his story, and wow, what a story. There was so much grief in such a small work – loss of family, loss of community, loss of health, and the loss home. And equally as painful as the grief was Kossala’s remembering the part Africans / Dahomey played in the slave trade. Kossala’s goal was to stay alive, and his antagonist was the Peculiar Institution of American Slavery with its long reaching and lasting tentacles of racism. He was kidnapped, placed in a barracoon, a slave ship, and on an auction block (all life threatening situations) due to American slavery. I believe, the establishment of Africatown, was his strongest blow against the reaching effects of slavery; freed slaves reestablished an African community on hostile American soil; that was miraculous. Kossala didn’t die due to slavery, but he suffered during and after; the lashes of racism ripped at his spirit and his body most of his life. Kossala was never able to return to Africa, and this denial was directly linked to slavery’s tentacles. The main message the text left me with – was that culture was king. Kossala’s culture was his strongest and consistent weapon. He relied on his culture and African traditions his entire life: in the bowels of the slave ship, he and the other kidnapped youth cried through traditional songs to ease their burden, as soon as he and other recently kidnapped Africans were freed they danced a traditional dance, throughout his youth and senior days African parables and fables guided his actions. When his family was taken, his culture remained; he took on the traditional role as griot for Africatown before the loss of family and remained in the role after the loss as an elder. Motifs in the text included valuing family, adapting to change, self-sufficiency, and surviving despite oppression. The text was loaded with descriptive language but what remained me was Kossala calling his wife his eyes, and when he lost her/then he was finished. The most memorable scene was the image of the Dahomey attacking his village; woman warriors entering the village beheading elders while the men blocked the exits kidnapping those who tried to escape the carnage. I believe the work will become one of the most important slave narratives in the canon. Hurston brought the skill of a fiction writer to the task of recording a biography; she converted Kossala’s biography into a story. In addition, Plant’s editing is informational and instructional. I will continue to read both writers. https://ndigo.com/2018/06/27/barracoon-wakeup-reading-paul-king/