Serena Williams is owed an apology

Serena Williams met with Naomi Osaka at the end of a highly anticipated U.S. Open. As a Black Woman, seeing two Black Women athletes meet at the top match of a typically less ‘colorful’ sport, such as tennis, is exciting, to say the least.

However, their match was less than the epic battle of rackets and ponytails we expected. In fact, it was less about the athletes and more about the umpires. Umpires who insisted Serena Williams, champion and the greatest athlete alive, was cheating.

What happened next further cemented Serena’s legacy for me. Yes, she is a champion, yes she is the athlete of all athletes, yes, she is a beautiful, bold, brown woman making a difference in a time when we need her. But this powerful moment that happened when Serena crossed the court, glowering with all the strength of the ancestors at umpire Carlos Ramos after he accused her of receiving coaching and declared “You owe me an apology. I have never cheated in my life. I have a daughter and stand for what’s right for her.”, encapsulates so much of what it is like to be a Black Woman.

“You owe me an apology.”

And so many of us are owed apologies, for being told we “speak so well” or asked if that is “all your hair” or being called “sassy” or “unapproachable”. We are owed apologies because people believed the stereotypical view of…