Microaggression and Serena Williams

The prose poems in the first 40 pages of Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine highlight and define the term microaggression. Microaggression is, “a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority” (Oxford Dictionary). I was really drawn to the pages where Rankine used Serena Williams as an example to spotlight these underhanded comments / actions that occur on a daily basis, and how recipients react to said occurrences. For example, Serena faced prejudice on the court when the umpire declares that her foot was on the line while she was serving. After the buildup of other injustices from umpires, players, and fans alike,(five bad calls from Mariana Alves, Indian Wells, etc.) Serena “snaps”. She yells, “I swear to God I’m fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God! (Williams, 29). I feel as if this quote is extremely pertinent to these two sections of the book. There were so many instances and microaggressions, that Serena finally let out her frustration and anger. In a world where we are taught that silence is better than violence, I agree with Rankine when she says, “It is difficult not to applaud her for existing in the moment, for fighting crazily against the so-called wrongness of her body’s positioning at the service line” (29). Even though many people deemed Williams as “crazy” after this outburst, it is empowering to see her stand her ground, no matter how the delivery may be; because in actuality Williams is reacting to much more than just her body’s positioning.

Questions:

  1. There have been many examples of racism, microaggressions, and oppression that African Americans specifically have had to face. Take for example the riots in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Michael Brown. Do you think violence, or even an outburst like Serena’s, is ever “the answer”? In better terminology, do you believe it is better to be silent, or to react to these microaggressions?
  2. Can you find other examples of microaggression throughout the story?

24 thoughts on “Microaggression and Serena Williams”

  1. Adrienne,
    While I always believe in standing up for what is right, there will always be a better way to go about it without inciting violence. People respond best to logic and reasoning, so instead of saying “I swear to God I’m fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God!” (Williams, 29), she probably would have seen better results on the court and from the media if she said something along the lines of “You are the only person here who saw me step on the line during my serve. That was a bad call and you know it.” While this may not have changed to ref’s opinion, she would’ve been perceived much better by the media. Though in the moment, when you are being treated unfairly, you often can’t help responding explosively, and you may be so angry that you can’t even think of a logical response. In all, I do believe it is better to respond than to stay silent, because silence rarely incites change.

  2. Adrienne,
    I do not think that violence or even an outburst like Serena’s is ever “the answer” as it makes the person look like the bad one for reacting aggressively. For example, when Serena stated “I swear to God I’m fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God!” (Williams, 29), she isn’t really standing up for herself. She is making herself look like the bad one and shows that she cannot handle herself in these situations such as bad calls by the refs.
    I do not believe that silence and viciousness is better in order to stand up for what you believe in. I believe that simple protests are a way to get your point across in a non-violent matter as it shows your reasoning to the public. As we talk about race, a great example would be the protest of one of the NFL teams’ names the “Washington Redskins”. Thousands of Natives Americans around the United States find the word “redskin” offensive and racist. In order to be heard and hopeful that the owner of the team will change its name, people protest around the stadiums where the team plays during the season. I used this as an example because these protesters do not use violence to get their point across to others. They use simple non-violent protests to be heard and seen by others to show their reasoning and how they feel.

  3. 1. There have been many examples of racism, microaggressions, and oppression that African Americans specifically have had to face. Take for example the riots in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Michael Brown. Do you think violence, or even an outburst like Serena’s, is ever “the answer”? In better terminology, do you believe it is better to be silent, or to react to these microaggressions?

    Hello,
    First, I would like to say I too noticed the examples of situations where racism is obvious. At times, the speaker seems to imply that people do not even realize what they are doing is racist. I believe racism is not something born into any person, so the scene which was painted in the plane with the child seemed saddening because it implies the mother has expressed an indesire to be near back people, and even if she may not have said it directly, had taught her child to body language to repluse or fear the black community.

    Onto your very good question however. Is there a time to be silent and a time to act? I believe silence cannot happen when any flagarent show of any bigotry happens. A wise man and political figure Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. Bigotry is empowered however when those who detest a particular people are able to show proof of their reasoning, no matter how truly weak their reasoning may be.

    “What surprised Abernathy was the way Robinson withstood racial taunts during the 1947 rookie season. That was definitely not the Robinson he knew.
    ‘Jackie Robinson, he was a good player, but he had some temper _ temper like a rattlesnake,’ Abernathy said.”

    The above quote from the APNews (I will leave the link below) embodies perhaps one of the most significant changes in our societies history. Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play baseball for the official league, which before was a white-only sport, acted the exact opposite with how the bigoted segment of society expected him and even wanted him to. As Abernathy states above, Jackie Robinson was not a push over, he had more anger than anybody, especially for the intense bigotry he endured by the stadium audience as well as the baseball umpires. However, despite this, he proved to them that black people are not hate filled, he proved that they black people are not evil, and he even managed to make those within the sport look like complete fools for previously slandering him. All this while presenting the actions opposite of what a bigoted society expected of him.

    I am not in any way saying the efforts to present injustices, whether in sports or otherwise, is futile. However, the text explains how Serena Williams and the audience saw when the injustices occured to her, and even acknowledges announcers and the audience was surpirsed and upset about it. However, those who aimed to target Willaims through the scopes of bigots abused her and used her anger as a broad brush to shothe crazy nature of all black people. This is a terrible act and one which has no true footing, however the constant bolstering of it allowed those who do think negatively on black people felt empowered, and their bigotry fueled further.
    On the same note however, her act of rage fueled a community with the feeling that they are not a silent group, and they do have power in their life. Black communities could feel connected with Serena’s rage. They understand the emotional load of that sort of situation. Many situations were explained in the text, and they all built up a rage or disgust for the nonchalant attituded against black men and women until the Serena Williams story, when Wiliams burst, we all sort of released our rage a little to. We all released and understood and felt Williams was justified, we felt like Serena Williams empowered a change to the flow of the story so that no longer was it an acceptance of these stories, but instead a repulsion.

    A silent society is a society willing to allow evil to grow within its cracks. It solidifies and further grows a breach in the society until someone sppeaks up, or acts. Williams and Robinson, two famous and revolutionary sport players acted against bigotry under heavy scrutiny, however treated their situations differently. However you see their acts, both acted without silence and agreeance to their opposition and inspred generation throughout the black community to break the trend of accepting the injustices, and each built inspiration to their viewers to create inconsistencies between the stories of nonchalant bigotry toward the blck community. Perhaps one day those inconsistencies will overwhelm and overthrow the bigotted stories and become the new consistiency.

  4. Adrienne,
    I do not believe violence or outbursts are the answer to these types of situations. Handling them in that way can only result in even worse outcomes. Serena’s outburst resulted in her getting into more trouble than she needed to be in. “…her punishment for this moment of manumission is the threatened point of penalty resulting in the loss of the match, an $82,500 fine, plus a two-year probationary period by the Grand Slam Committee” (30). Serena could have avoided this by dealing with her conflict in a more mentally and physically healthy manner. Instead, her actions result in those extreme consequences. There are many more examples of microaggression, or unintentional racism, throughout the story. One is from the first section. It reads, “…his dean is making him hire a person of color when there are so many great writers out there” (10). This line wasn’t directly intended to be racist, however, it was. This person was implying that people of color are not ‘great’ writers. Types of micro aggression happen all the time, but violence and/or outbursts are never the answer. These types of issues should be handled in an appropriate manner.

  5. Adrienne,
    I believe that anger is the best way of overcoming prejudices and discrimination. I made a connection between the reading from “The Citizen” and the essay, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference.” Concepts of racism are so deeply rooted that the best way to over come them are with dramatic reactions of anger. These reactions draw attention to overlooked issues that need to be solved. Although many believed that Serena was insane for her reaction at the tennis match, they were able to later understand her outbreak in a different context. She faced discrimination for her action, however, it was later recognized as a good act for an under-appreciated race. Rankine states, “Again Serena’s frustrations, her disappointments, exist within a system you understand not to try to understand in any fair-minded way because to do so is to understand the erasure of the self as systematic, as ordinary” (32). Because frustrations due to racism are difficult to understand by wide margins, anger is the best way of showing these issues to the world. Examples of anger against racism can be seen in modern-day movements such as Black Lives Matter.

  6. Adrienne,
    In my opinion, violence is never the answer and words can solve almost any problem. Although violence isn’t the answer, i believe an outburst here and there is not a problem. Sometimes you have to get loud or put emphasis on things so people will really see the importance of the statement. One thing I was taught growing up is that two wrongs don’t make a right, and trying to resolve violence with violence will fail ten times out of ten. Serena lost her cool which happens to everyone “Serena in HD before your eyes becomes overcome by a rage you recognize and have been taught to hold at a distance for your own good.” Although many people have criticized Serena for this moment, I completely understand. If you have played sports in your life at any point, then you know that sometimes you can not control your emotions. Serena Williams is a professional and people would argue that she should know that millions are watching and looking up to her. Im sure that if she could relive that moment she would do it differently but in the heat of the moment you sometimes can’t control your emotions.

  7. Adrienne,
    I believe that violence is really never the answer. When Serena stated, “I swear to God I’m fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that?” (29), it only makes herself look bad. Where she could have just not had said anything at all like many people say “silence speaks louder than words”. Although I don’t think it was necessary for her to react that way, I am not surprised she did if she was holding a lot of anger inside. I also think that being silent rather than acting out is easier said than done.

  8. 1. I do not believe that violence or outbursts are the correct way to handle microaggressions. Although it may bring relief in the immediate moment, reacting this way reflects very poorly on the person more often than not. When celebrities respond to microaggressions with violence or outbursts, they become the headlining story of every news cite for days about how they are “losing it” or “showing a dark side to them” regardless of how true it may actually reflect the person. I think that peaceful protesting is a much smarter tactic when it comes to protesting.

    Can you find other examples of microaggression throughout the story?
    2. An example of microaggression that stood out to me from the story was on page 18, where the narrator describes a scene in which they are visiting a new therapist. This patient has only ever spoken to the therapist on the phone, so the therapist did not know the race of the patient until coming face to face with them at her house where she yells “Get away from my house! What are you doing in my yard?” (18) The therapist never even considered that the patient was there to see her until it was explained to her by the patient that that was the situation, to which she finally apologized. This type of microaggression is insulting because she would have never reacted in the manor that she did had it been a white patient.

  9. Issac Newton once said “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” if you’re constantly being discriminated against and mistreated by law enforcement and those who are supposed to protect and serve the community I think violence might be the answer. The riots of Ferguson attracted a lot more attention to the situation. If the people of Ferguson didn’t react like that it would have been just another senseless murder where the cop got away with it. I remember when this happened, it seemed like every few days another police officer murdered an unarmed black male. With this kind of injustice, I think a riot seems within reason. Just this year Serena Williams got fined for her outburst at a tournament. She was accused of cheating and being coached when she was not. As an elite competitor who’s dedicated her life to her craft being called a cheater really hit her hot button, she didn’t threaten to shove a ball down the refs throat but she was still fined. She even said guys do and say worse things all the time and nothing happens. Violence might not be THE answer but there comes a time when its a pretty darn good answer.

  10. Adrienne,
    I have always believed that violence is never the answer. Fighting fire with fire creates no productivity, it only creates more fire. I always liked to think, if we fight back with the same venom and violence as our oppressors are giving us, what makes us any better than them? While I completely understand and sympathize with William’s outburst, there were better ways going about it in which the media would of perceived her in a more positive way.
    There are many examples of microagression throughout the book. One example, “Get away from my house! What are you doing in my yard?” (18). When a therapist takes on a new patient over the phone, they don’t know the race of this person. When agreed to meet with their new patient, the client comes to the house only to be screamed at. If the patient was white, this encounter would of never happened.

  11. Adrienne,
    I like how you mentioned the Serena Williams example in your post. It was one part of the story that caught my eye and I’m glad that you shared your interpretation. First of all, there are certain standards that come with becoming a professional athlete/celebrity and one of those standards is keeping your cool. Unfortunately we live in a society where it advertises the negative so if god forbid you make a mistake the whole world knows. That being said although Serena had every right for the outburst I still don’t think it was the right thing to do and she could have gone about it in a better way. I felt in 2011 her sister Venus handled it in the best way possible by using her own microaggression when stating, “Today, I felt American, you know, for the first time at the US Open” (96). Not only did this pay respect to the sport’s etiquette and those that supported her, but it also brought light to the problem of tennis that is “being thrown on a white background”.

  12. Adrienne,
    Microagressions I believe have sort of a butterfly effect. When it starts out as a small thing, like an argument, Serena Williams for example, and then it gets bigger. Serena got so angry she said “I swear to God I’m fucking going to take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that?” (29 Things like this can result in public outrage and anger toward whatever the opposing side is. It can end in treacherous actions taken on black men and women, like shootings of black boys and men by police officers. And as the end result much as we see now, incites riots and larger acts of violence. Some people would say that trying to have a logical conversation and reason with people who disagree with you is not possible because those people do not think logically in the first place so it would be a waste of time, and therefore we must resort to violence to prove points. However, I don’t think this is true.

  13. I agree. Serena’s reaction, on the surface, seems to be extreme and inappropriate; however, once we understand the context of everything she has gone through then we can understand how she would explode like this. It’s unfortunate that her extreme reaction seems to negate the actual injustices that she faced and continues to face. After this reaction all people could talk about was the reaction and not what caused the reaction. I’m glad that you pointed this section out, very well written.

  14. Adrienne,
    You bring up excellent points in your post in regards to Serena Williams reaction and the public’s reaction to her outburst and the contrast when compared to men’s tennis players, who are predominantly white. Other examples of microaggressions are highlighted in practically every page of this text, Citizen, in different instances. I believe it is always better to speak out against these microaggressions. Although violence is preferably never the answer, in some cases I believe it is necessary for a cause or truth to be noticed. The most prominent and dangerous cases of microaggressions in today’s society is seen in prejudice in the police force and cases of police brutality. It is astounding to me sometimes when I see some posts or comments from people from my home town who deny racism exists and think that if you just do what your supposed to you will never have any issues during an interaction with police, regardless of race and that there is no reason for black people to fear police in any way.

  15. Even though I feel that violence may not be the answer, so is staying silent. Yes, violence and speaking up may cause some form of uproar but you should try and make yourself heard. Being aware of racism, microaggression, and oppression and speaking up about these issues will make others just like ourselves more alert. Violence does not have to be taken into action to resolve an ongoing issue, that seems to keep progressing.

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