NAOMI OSAKA EMBRACES HER “BLACKNESS”
By Tim Moore
What is it about these tennis playing “Sistas”; Venus. Serena, Sloan, Madison and now Naomi. I don’t know for sure but I would bet that her Haitian father named her after superstar diva model, Naomi Campbell. I’m taking literary license here but I am sure she knows who Naomi Campbell is.
Naomi Osaka ,in an interview, said that when she goes to Japan, the people are surprised when the see a “Black” girl’ Unlike Meghan Markle, she does not iron her hair to take the curls out and make it straight. Her school girl crush is Michael B Jordon of the “Black Panther”. This, in my maid would show she is proud o and embraces her Blackness.
Her sheroes are Venus and Serena Williams. At least for tennis, they are excellent models. This one African American family has won ore tennis rand slams than all the countries in Asia combined.
Now some may respond “but she is playing under the Japanese flag. Good question but that was her father’s decision. He calculated that his daughter would get may attention and money from the Japanese Tennis Federation than it’s US counterpart. He was right. There is plenty of competition her in the US for girls tennis.
As her trophy’s ad up, she is getting more interviews. The announcers are always quick to point out her Japanese heritage. Often times, during an interview the announcer would question her on her Japanese heritage. However, she is quick to point out that she grew up in America and she is Haitian also. I am sure that her father has told her of the proud history of Haiti. That knowledge of that history could be one of the sources of he confidence.
I will not go into it here but Haiti has a very proud history. To get some idea of that history, it is best to YouTube” the Haitian revolution. It is more reliable than a Google search because YouTube contributors use our spoken word tradition.Now for her tennis skills. Serena was nervous from the start. The reason for this was that when she looked across the net, she saw a younger Serena. Naomi Osaka’s father patterned his daughter’s career and game after Richard Williams game plan. It worked.
NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 8: Serena Williams (L) of USA greets Naomi Osaka (R) of Japan during US Open 2018 women’s final match on September 8, 2018 in New York, United States. (Photo by Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
She has a powerful sere to match Serena and she has the quickness that Serena does not quite have any more. Serena can still beat her with her experience a still powerful game. It has to be her A” game and not the “B-“ game she played in the Open Finals. Plus, Serena won’t have the same distractions.
All and all, these women are an inspiration to girls all over the world. Naomi is of special significance to Black and brown girls. Her beautiful, very brown skin hopefully will make Japanese girls stop using dangerous bleach to lighten their skin.
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