Richard Williams: “The white man hated me all my life and I hate him”
March 19th, 2008 . by Dell
Venus and Serena’s daddy is at it again folks. When asked how race (and racism) in tennis affected him and his family, he had this to say.
It didn’t affect us. We were trained for something like that. Tennis is a prejudice game. Well, I’m Black and I’m prejudiced, very prejudiced. I’ll be always prejudiced as the White man. The White man hated me all my life and I hate him. That’s no secret. I’m not even an American, it just so happens that I was born in America. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don’t think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be. But if you get some little White no good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert who cannot hit the ball, they will claim this is great.
You can read Richard’s entire interview with the Deccan Herald HERE.
While I agree that Venus and Serena definitely faced discrimination, Richard is approaching this the wrong way. The timing of this latest tirade is especially bad considering the presidential race going on right now. People over the age of 55 in America (no matter what race they are) generally have very bitter feelings towards one another due to the civil rights movement and racial tensions in America’s past.
This kinda reminds me of Chris Rock’s stand up on how old black people are the most racist in the country.
Nothing more racist than a old black man, you know why? Cos the old black man went through some real racism. He ain’t go through that ‘I can’t get a cab’ shit. He *WAS* the cab! White man just jump on his back; ‘Main Street!’
thats REAL. LOL
(this video is NSFW)
Yes both sisters had to go through racism, but last i saw a hell of a lot more white people watch tennis then black, which basically means his daughters livelihood is dependent on both white and black people……..This may be his truth, but for heavens sake why would you poison your daughters audience that way?
Richard Williams is that old black prejudiced uncle you have that can tie in the price of stamps with racism.
Now I may not be as responsive to the daughters because of Richard
well you can’t fault the daughters for what their dad says. They have no control over him and actually seem embarrassed at his actions sometimes.
man, richard williams is a whack job. i guess everybody knows how he really feels now. it’s a shame that he is not more dignified and insightful about the success of his daughters. the chip on his shoulder is so enormous that he cannot even see beyond his own anger and self-righteousness. i respect McEnroe and Martina and all the greats who put their lives into their passions. where the heck does richard williams get off on spewing pejorative comments about legends who have given back to the tennis and other communities at large? These greats are MULTI-talented. richard williams is talented in feeding low-rate, 3rd-world journalists hatred…he knows nobody else in the US will touch him with a 10-foot pole.
How do serena and venus face other predominantly white players on tour when they know their father is spewing such vicious diarrhea? Must be tense in the locker room having to apologize continuously to your opponents.
RICHARD – for your daughter’s sake, put a sock in your mouth and take photos like you used to…stop the hate.