This weekend the LSU women’s basketball team upset the country, and I’m sure some betting fans when they became the lowest-ranked NCAA women’s basketball team to win the Final Four. If you are indeed living under a rock, then you wouldn’t know that there was a huge controversy when Angel Reese waved her hand in her face and pointed to her ring finger as a mocking response to the losing team, the University of Iowa’s star player, Caitlyn Clark. Several news outlets had some pretty sh-tty things to say in response to a 20-year-old, who also faced a ton of scrutiny and public doubt before the game, getting to celebrate her victory.
The chronically sunburned and extremely long-faced rape apologist founder of the sports blog Barstool Sports, David Portnoy, tweeted that Angel was a “classless piece of sh-t,” because of the gesture.
It’s interesting when Caitlyn made the same gesture that it was lauded, and when Angel repeated it and added a little flare to it, it was condemned, and I don’t know, but I just don’t feel like Black women can do anything that would satisfy the masses on how we should and should not behave. I’m convinced that the world loves the labor of Black women but doesn’t want us to be too great.
The world must go out of its way to humble Black us, especially when we win.
Stories like those of Kymberly Wimberly and Jasmine Shepard are prime examples. Both were named valedictorians at their respective high schools and while their stories don’t involve each other, they are still the same. After being named valedictorian by their schools, they were then both forced to share that honor with white students who had lower GPAs, driving the point home about outworking your white counterparts just to receive the same recognition. With so many negative stereotypes about Black women floating off tongues in ubiquity, there never seems to be occurrences that when Black women live and win with their rules, they will receive praise.
Take Michelle Obama, for instance. Now whether you agree or disagree with their politics, you must admit that the vitriol the Obamas received, particularly Michelle, was awful. Additionally, the pose that the Obamas displayed was textbook-perfect PR, but that didn’t stop the nastiness. The comparison to monkeys, misgendering her, and even suggesting that she had a surrogate because she was a man were some of the most supreme disrespect for the highest position in the land that an elected official’s wife could hold. As recently as April Fool’s Day, a one Stephanie Gaddis, who looks like warmed-over Panera soup with the gooey skin on top and dresses like she’s shopped at a Duggar family garage sale, had the unmitigated gall to tweet, “Why are Michelle Obama’s clothes so ugly?” Now, public figures are going to be scrutinized, it’s just the law of the land, but hearing über Americans speak with such grossness concerning their first lady, but praising Melania, an immigrant who very much has been scantily clad for money, flying in the face of their moral tenets, is a quagmire for sure.
And speaking of First Ladies, Jill Biden initially wanted to invite the winning LSU team, made up of an all-Black squad, with the exception of one player, who still may be Creole. I squinted, but I couldn’t tell for sure, as well as the losing Iowa team that is a majority white team.
Nowhere in the history of inviting teams who win major championships to the White House has there ever been an invite to the losing squad as well. This is a clear example of the establishment needing to humble Black women. It’s funny how people can only understand equality when Black women are clearly above their “equals.” In 2010, Mary O’Shea pinned the article, The Two Sides of the Serena Williams Coin: The Arrogant Ace? Which was much less an article and more a copypasta disaster of about 100 quotes, the majority reeking of jealous and unchanged underwear. For a sport that exalted the likes of temperamental racket-breaking stars like John McEnroe, whose temper, almost as famous as he was, was often written about with a pen dipped in pity and concern. John McEnroe himself has even made comments disparaging Serena’s wins, asserting that she would be beaten by the 700th-ranked male tennis player, concluding that she would not be nearly as good if she were a man. It’s wild how he came to that conclusion because it really has so many layers, so very many.
If there is one thing the world can agree on, it’s misogynoir.
No matter how bad life is for men, society supports the belief system that they are stronger, faster, smarter and more equipped than a woman. No matter how bad life is for white people, society supports the belief system that they are smarter, better, more clever and morally superior than Black people. Imagine being on the losing end of both of those myths. Worldwide, Black women are always commodified but never the commodity. We are the blueprint but never the prototype. We are always seen as less than even when we hold the title of best. Often, we are forced to water down our accomplishments or share them with someone else in a bid to keep us humble. Angel Reese continues to celebrate herself and her team’s win and vocally declined Jill Biden’s offer after she tried to additionally invite the mostly white losing team. In an unprecedented move, this made even some Black people upset. They were quick to admonish her and say she was doing too much, as if their favorite male sports star is known for his humility.
Black people aligning themselves to respectability politics when MLK was killed in a business suit will never make sense. A 20-year-old, who just won a national championship against all odds, and trash-talked just like any other competitor, should not be held to a standard that clearly does not even work, not even for Michelle Obama.
If the world is going to demand even more greatness from Black women, the least they could do is let us celebrate it.
