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It
was to be expected (at least if you live in present-day America) that
Gwen Berry would become the target of invective from millions of
Americans outraged by the fact that she refused
to
salute
the national anthem. Berry is a hammer thrower who participated in
the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Portland, Oregon on June
26th. She is also Black. Therein lies the controversy for some.
The
reaction was swift. The right-wing, political chattering class
immediately dived into attack mode, launching fierce verbal grenades
at Berry. Ungrateful, unpatriotic, disrespectful and arrogant were
just a few of the terms hurled at Ms. Berry. Tomi
Lahren,
a perennial critic of Black women, labeled Berry a “crybaby”.
The pristine, privileged and perennially arrogant Meghan McCain
weighed in on the controversy, stating that it was “insulting”
for Ms. Berry to “disrespect” millions of military
veterans by turning her back toward the flag.
Berry
garnered support from certain quarters. When asked by a reporter
what President Biden thought about Ms. Berry’s protesting the
national anthem, White House press secretary, Jen Psaki stated the
following:
"I
know [Biden] is incredibly proud to be an American and has great
respect for the anthem and all that it represents," Psaki said.
"He would also say that part of that pride in our country means
recognizing there are moments where we, as a country, haven't lived
up to our highest ideals and means respecting the right of people
granted in the Constitution to peacefully protest."
Touchdown!
Fellow 2020 Olympians Will Claye, Teahna Daniels and former world
record holder, Michael Johnson offered encouragement to Berry for her
what they saw as her brave and principled stance.
The
onslaught of attacks, particularly from conservative media and
politicians, was daunting. Not one to back down from those who dare
challenge her, Berry, in no uncertain terms, informed FOX News of
what she thought of their verbal assaults on her - telling her
critics at the news channel where
they could go.
Suffice to say, her response was brash, blunt and colorful.
The
U.S. Olympic trials is not the first time that Gwen Berry has courted
controversy. Berry raised her fist in protest on the podium at the
end of the national anthem during the Pan American Games in Peru in
2019. For having the audacity to exercise her first amendment rights,
she was placed on probation for a year by the U.S. Olympic &
Paralympic Committee. In a number of ways, Berry’s saga mirrors
that of Colin Kaepernick. Both individuals have been the target of
vicious levels of hostility, resistance and trolling by their
unhinged detractors.
In
subsequent interviews, Berry made it clear that she believes America
to be a great country and that she does not hate the nation. That
being said, she has stated unapologetically that this nation has not
lived up to its ideals of racial equality as it relates to Black
people. Many people would concur with her.
Perusing
through various avenues of social media, it was not all that
surprising, at least to me, to see a notable percentage of White
critics of Berry referring to her as combative, hostile, racist,
difficult and so on. These are adjectives that have historically been
used to describe Black women. Truth be told, Black women have been
routinely portrayed as:
*
loud
*
rude
*
oversexed
*
manipulative
*
welfare queens
*
argumentative
In
the darker, more racially pervasive corners of the internet, the
rhetoric and racial oriented captions are often more habitually
obscene and acerbic.
Indeed,
Gwen Berry is far from being the only woman of African descent to
have been the subject of blatant affronts and slights. Vice President
Kamala Harris was attacked by critics across the political spectrum
for her supposedly “less than precise” response to a
question, as it pertained to immigration.
Tennis
greats, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, were denounced for daring to
attend to their physical, emotional and mental well-being; Simone
Biles, for daring to be unapologetic for being the best athlete that
her sport has ever produced; and Meghan Markle, for daring to
challenge and speak out against the antiquated pageantry, customs and
deeply entrenched racism of the British monarchy.
While
Black men have long been the favorite target of White racists;
recently, it appears that Black women, at least for the moment, have
become the "flavor of the month", the brand-new punching
bag that has been purchased by White America, the dartboard for
racially hostile target practice. One can only imagine the physical,
emotional and psychological toll such an onslaught of endemic
criticism can have on Black women and women of color in general. It
is the intersection of racism and sexism at its most sinister.
When
mid-20th
century Black activist, Malcolm X, stated that the most disrespected,
abused, mistreated and disregarded person in America was the Black
woman, he was spot on. It should go without saying that Black women
are human, just as any other group of people are, and deserve to be
treated with as much dignity as anyone else. It is time that we, as a
society, start bestowing such deserved respect accordingly.
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