The world's greatest living tennis player wrote something on Facebook today about police killings of unarmed black Americans.
Today I asked my 18 year old nephew (to be clear he's black) to drive me to my meetings so I can work on my phone #safteyfirst. In the distance I saw cop on the side of the road. I quickly checked to see if he was obliging by the speed limit. Than I remembered that horrible video of the woman in the car when a cop shot her boyfriend. All of this went through my mind in a matter of seconds. I even regretted not driving myself. I would never forgive myself if something happened to my nephew. He's so innocent. So were all "the others"
I am a total believer that not "everyone" is bad It is just the ones that are ignorant, afraid, uneducated, and insensitive that is affecting millions and millions of lives.
Why did I have to think about this in 2016? Have we not gone through enough, opened so many doors, impacted billions of lives? But I realized we must stride on- for it's not how far we have come but how much further still we have to go.
I than wondered than have I spoken up? I had to take a look at me. What about my nephews? What if I have a son and what about my daughters?
As Dr. Martin Luther King said "There comes a time when silence is betrayal".
I
Won't
Be
SilentSerena
More at the New York Times: 'I Won't Be Silent': Serena Williams on the Fear of Driving While Black
Image: Serena Williams, the top-ranked player in women's tennis, attends a news conference in New York, March 8, 2016. [REUTERS]
