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Posts tagged gabby douglas

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theuppitynegras: dmarten90: lordlingsnow: dmarten90: avatareverlark: starkofwinterfell: so apparently according to this person, being “humble and beautiful” = not saying factual things about needing better coaching to be serious elite contender/NOT BRINGING UP RACISM AND BULLYING THAT HAPPENED TO HER FOR YEARS AT THE GYM SHE LEFT. I’m sorry, but when you are caucasian and call a young black girl your “slave”, it’s a big fucking deal. do you know how racism works in this country? it goes unchecked many, many times. it’s encouraged by stereotypes in the media, on television, in movies. it’s not reprimanded correctly when it happens. it’s everywhere, right under our noses. it’s the nitty gritty ugliness of the human mind that some people still refuse to admit exists. so yes, I’m going to get offended when you say that a successful young black woman should “never bring up” the fact that she was discriminated against because of her skin color. do you know how big of an impact it has when a public figure like gabby comes out and admits to being bullied and being the butt of racist remarks? it shows young women of color that it’s not okay for a white person to demean you for your race. it shows young women of color that no, this is not something that’s normal, something that you have to take and accept because it’s happening for a reason. gabby took a stance, a brave stance, by bringing to light what happened to her. she’s teaching young girls of color everywhere that it’s not okay when someone insults you because of your race. she’s teaching young white girls everywhere that it’s not okay to make racist jokes and think they can get away with it. she’s teaching white america that racism is still a serious issue and permeates through many layers of our society, down to our children and into their gyms, their schools, their behaviors. honestly, look at the situation. gabby douglas is a double gold medalist at the olympics. she’s the first woman of color to EVER win the all around gold. she won both team gold and AA gold for her country. she’s probably raking in cash thanks to endorsement deals and media events. she’s accomplished so many things at the olympics - maybe not event finals medals, but both the AA and team crown, which, to quote shannon miller, is nothing to sneeze at. how would her bringing up the “race issue” have benefited her at all? why would she need to make it up, as I’ve seen some people say? if anything, her bringing up this extremely painful and personal detail of her past has probably driven AWAY people like you, who think RACISM and BULLYING should “never even have been brought up”. it’s probably driven away people who don’t want to look at the harsh reality of modern america, people who continue to believe that we’re this post-racial, colorblind society when in reality, we’re not. in reality, a young girl was belittled for not looking like her white teammates. in reality, a young girl had to deal with her parents’ divorce, her father being deployed, her family having to live on nothing and barely getting by - in ADDITION to the racism she faced in the gym. in reality, a young girl had to move all the way to iowa to leave the toxic environment she was in and reach for her dreams. in reality, a young girl had to leave her family and focus at the age of sixteen to keep moving forward in the face of adversity. in reality, a young girl finally won the medal she deserved - and then had to deal with the most popular subject of her win not being her performances or her talent, but her hair. that is the reality we face. that is the reality that gabby brought up, the reality that you don’t want to admit is there, the reality that you shame her for bringing up. Well done Alyssa Back in the 1980’s a gymnastics coach told a reporter that Black people were incapable of being gymnasts. Yes, I’m serious. This dumbass actually said this-according to this numbnuts coach, Black people were-and I quote-“incapable of mellow and artistic performances” This was said, ironically, for an article about the first male African American to win an American gymnastics competition-Ron Gallimore. Ron Gallimore went through a LOT of shit-mostly from his fellow American gymnasts and coaches, since he was basically the only Black guy there.  Lucy Collins and Dianne Durham were next-both of them languished on the National Team, although Dianne got a lot of International assignments thanks to the fact her coach was Bela Karolyi. Until 1993, there wasn’t another well-known Black gymnast in US WAG-and along came Dominique Dawes.  I said that to say this: There has always been an ugly strain of racism in US gymnastics. That’s not to say that anyone critical of Gabby is racist-not at all. But-what happened to Gabby at Excalibur was not surprising at all, mainly because racism has always raised it’s ugly head in American gymnastics. It just hasn’t been more..shall we say..open?  I’m reblogging for the commentary. Gabby’s still humble and beautiful to me.  Gabby IS humble and beautiful. She’s just not going to stay quiet while a bunch of ignorant people go on about stuff that’s really bullshit. That’s what I LIKE about Gabby. Oh, and the racism still goes on, and not just in Gabby’s general direction. John Orozco gets that bullshit too. And it’s not right.  reblogging again for additional commentary 

theuppitynegras:

dmarten90:

lordlingsnow:

dmarten90:

avatareverlark:

starkofwinterfell:

so apparently according to this person, being “humble and beautiful” = not saying factual things about needing better coaching to be serious elite contender/NOT BRINGING UP RACISM AND BULLYING THAT HAPPENED TO HER FOR YEARS AT THE GYM SHE LEFT.

I’m sorry, but when you are caucasian and call a young black girl your “slave”, it’s a big fucking deal.

do you know how racism works in this country? it goes unchecked many, many times. it’s encouraged by stereotypes in the media, on television, in movies. it’s not reprimanded correctly when it happens. it’s everywhere, right under our noses. it’s the nitty gritty ugliness of the human mind that some people still refuse to admit exists.

so yes, I’m going to get offended when you say that a successful young black woman should “never bring up” the fact that she was discriminated against because of her skin color.

do you know how big of an impact it has when a public figure like gabby comes out and admits to being bullied and being the butt of racist remarks? it shows young women of color that it’s not okay for a white person to demean you for your race. it shows young women of color that no, this is not something that’s normal, something that you have to take and accept because it’s happening for a reason.

gabby took a stance, a brave stance, by bringing to light what happened to her. she’s teaching young girls of color everywhere that it’s not okay when someone insults you because of your race. she’s teaching young white girls everywhere that it’s not okay to make racist jokes and think they can get away with it. she’s teaching white america that racism is still a serious issue and permeates through many layers of our society, down to our children and into their gyms, their schools, their behaviors.

honestly, look at the situation. gabby douglas is a double gold medalist at the olympics. she’s the first woman of color to EVER win the all around gold. she won both team gold and AA gold for her country. she’s probably raking in cash thanks to endorsement deals and media events. she’s accomplished so many things at the olympics - maybe not event finals medals, but both the AA and team crown, which, to quote shannon miller, is nothing to sneeze at.

how would her bringing up the “race issue” have benefited her at all? why would she need to make it up, as I’ve seen some people say? if anything, her bringing up this extremely painful and personal detail of her past has probably driven AWAY people like you, who think RACISM and BULLYING should “never even have been brought up”. it’s probably driven away people who don’t want to look at the harsh reality of modern america, people who continue to believe that we’re this post-racial, colorblind society when in reality, we’re not.

in reality, a young girl was belittled for not looking like her white teammates. in reality, a young girl had to deal with her parents’ divorce, her father being deployed, her family having to live on nothing and barely getting by - in ADDITION to the racism she faced in the gym. in reality, a young girl had to move all the way to iowa to leave the toxic environment she was in and reach for her dreams. in reality, a young girl had to leave her family and focus at the age of sixteen to keep moving forward in the face of adversity. in reality, a young girl finally won the medal she deserved - and then had to deal with the most popular subject of her win not being her performances or her talent, but her hair.


that is the reality we face. that is the reality that gabby brought up, the reality that you don’t want to admit is there, the reality that you shame her for bringing up.

Well done Alyssa

Back in the 1980’s a gymnastics coach told a reporter that Black people were incapable of being gymnasts. Yes, I’m serious. This dumbass actually said this-according to this numbnuts coach, Black people were-and I quote-“incapable of mellow and artistic performances” This was said, ironically, for an article about the first male African American to win an American gymnastics competition-Ron Gallimore. Ron Gallimore went through a LOT of shit-mostly from his fellow American gymnasts and coaches, since he was basically the only Black guy there. 

Lucy Collins and Dianne Durham were next-both of them languished on the National Team, although Dianne got a lot of International assignments thanks to the fact her coach was Bela Karolyi. Until 1993, there wasn’t another well-known Black gymnast in US WAG-and along came Dominique Dawes. 

I said that to say this: There has always been an ugly strain of racism in US gymnastics. That’s not to say that anyone critical of Gabby is racist-not at all. But-what happened to Gabby at Excalibur was not surprising at all, mainly because racism has always raised it’s ugly head in American gymnastics. It just hasn’t been more..shall we say..open? 

I’m reblogging for the commentary. Gabby’s still humble and beautiful to me. 

Gabby IS humble and beautiful. She’s just not going to stay quiet while a bunch of ignorant people go on about stuff that’s really bullshit. That’s what I LIKE about Gabby. Oh, and the racism still goes on, and not just in Gabby’s general direction. John Orozco gets that bullshit too. And it’s not right. 

reblogging again for additional commentary 

(Source: gymfanconfessions, via nappynomad)

Filed under reblogging for commentary gabby douglas racism