In the Spirit of Wyomia Tyus, Women Athletes Say #BlackLivesMatter
http://www.thenation.com/blog/192913/spirit-wyomia-tyus-women-athletes-say-blacklivesmatter
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Before discussing the importance of seeing women’s basketball players at Notre Dame and Cal-Berkley join the on-court #BlackLivesMatter movement, let’s remember the story of the legendary Wyomia Tyus.
Wyomia Tyus was the first person in history to win the 100-meter gold in consecutive Olympics, accomplishing this feat in 1964 and 1968. Tyus also showed a remarkable bravery in the tumultuous, dramatic Mexico City Olympics of 1968, when Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists on the medal stand. After anchoring the women’s gold-medal winning 4x100 relay team to victory, Ms. Tyus said, “I’d like to say that we dedicate our relay win to John Carlos and Tommie Smith.” She did this at tremendous personal risk, and despite the fact that the “revolt of the black athlete,” as it was known, made no outreach to those black athletes who happened to be women. Tyus commented years later, “It appalled me that the men simply took us for granted. They assumed we had no minds of our own and that we’d do whatever we were told.” She was one of several black women who were supportive of the athletic revolution in the 1960s, but denied a seat at the table.
As we find ourselves at the start of new black freedom struggle that’s ricocheting into the world of sports, the voices of athletic women had before this weekend largely been silent. This despite the fact that the first athlete to speak out on the field of play wasn’t Derrick Rose or LeBron James. It was Ariyana Smith at Knox College, who on November 29 lay down on the court for four and a half minutes before the start of a game to symbolize the four and a half hours Michael Brown was left in the street after being killed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson. This despite the fact that there would be no #BlackLivesMatter moment without the fearless leadership of black women.
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I was a teenager during the time Wyomia was competing in the Olympics. A Georgia native, as was I, she really caught our attention at a time we had almost no female black heroes; indeed, like many whites at that time, I didn't even know black women beyond those who cleaned our houses. It cannot be overstated how much athletes like Wyomia, along with Smith and Carlos, helped to raise the consciousness of my generation to the gross inequity of our "separate but equal" society. Today, I view most athletes as being arrogant and narcissistic. A few are proving me wrong by taking a stand for #BlackLivesMatter. I wonder how many of them realize how easy it is to stand up today compared to the 1960's, and how many acknowledge the role of black women?
