There have been a few times when I wondered if Facebook and Twitter was such a good idea after all.
One of those times came after the women’s gymnastics competition when Anmerican Gabrielle Douglas made history by becoming the first African-American to win the gold medal in the All-Around competition.
What should have been a proud moment in our history as a people was somewhat submarined by several people who decided to use the occasion to make critical comments about Douglas’ hairstyle. And yes, these cheap shots aimed at the teenage sensation came from black people.
I still cannot believe this. This talented young lady just set the gymastics world on fire with a historic performance and we had black folks taking to the social media to channel their inner Don Imus and ridicule this girl’s hair.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING MEEEEEEE!!!
This is absolute stupidity at its highest level. And yes, I know about the importance of black women and their hair. But people, this was not the time and place to express such ignorance in the social network. Thankfully, many thoughtful people came to Douglas’ defense and celebrated the achievement, but it was sad that it had to come to that in the first place.
My grandparents’ generation celebrated in the streets when Joe Louis won the heavyweight title back in 1936. My father’s generation crowed into baseball stadiums around the country to catch a glimpse of Jackie Robinson when he broke the Major League Baseball color barrier in 1947.
I remember celebrating and giving the high-five to every black person I saw when Doug Williams dominated Super Bowl xx as the first black quarterback to start in the NFL’s biggest game.
Now, here comes Gabby Douglas, who not only gave us championship gymnastics, but also electrified the arena with her smile and showmanship much like Olga Korbut did in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Not only was she the first African-American to win the all-around competition, but she was also the first American in history to win the all-around gold and the team gold medal as well.
And what does she get? Scorn from many of her own people because of what her hair looked like.
Folks, we have to be better than that.
*I was distressed to see that no American men qualified for the finals of the 400-meter dash. The 400-meter dash has been the domain for the Americans for many decades. The names roll of the tounge from Lee Evans to Butch Reynolds to Michael Johnson to Jeremy Wariner to Leshawn Merritt and everyone in between. We can always count on a stable of top USA quarter-milers headed to the Olympics. To see that not happen this year is quite shocking.
*However, I was thrilled to watch the domination of 19-year old Karani James of Grenada, who won the gold medal in the 400. He became the first non-American to break 44 seconds in the 400. He is an amazing athlete and a true sportsman as well.
*How good was that men’s 100-meter final last weekend. American Tyson Gay turned in a sizzling 9.8-second time and he did not get a place on the medal stand because he finished fourth. Jamaican Usain Bolt repeated as the gold medalist in 9.63, followed by teammate Johan Blake’s 9.74 and American Justin Gatlin’s 9.78. Those guys were moving folks.
