Well, everyone around the world with a telelvision, internet or newspaper has known for days how things turned out. Miss Gabby, aka "the Flying Squirrel" (did anyone else think of Rocky the Flying Squirrel from the old "Bullwinkle" cartoons?) first qualified for the individual All-Around finals (beating out teammate and All-Around favorite Jordyn Wieber (although the new rule that only two gymnasts from each country could be represented in any individual competition was pretty bogus)
, then she helped lead the ladies' team to the Gold Medal in the team competition, and then followed that up with a Gold in the Individual All-Around competition. And just like that, she was a world-wide overnight sensation!
But alas, whenever new-found fame arrives, bullshit is right behind it, nipping at its heels.I'm a person that thinks the label "hater" is about as over- and mis-used as a term could possibly be, and I generally try to avoid using it, but in this case, there were some serious haters standing in line waiting to get at Ms. Gabby - or at the people who were either close to her, or proud of her success. I got my first taste of this in reading various message boards,
as well as Facebook, and Twitter. Why, many White folks ask, must a fuss be made over Gabby being the first African-American to win an individual All-Around Gold? Why must her race be mentioned at all? Why must Black people be termed "African-American" at all; why can't they just be called "Americans"?
Well, the simplest answer is that Gabby's gold medals were historic achievements in the realm of the Olympics. Although Balcks have long made their presence felt in the Summer Olympics as a whole, gymnastics has been an area where we have not had a whole lot of participation. So yes, Gabby's first-ever Gold Medal for a Black woman in the All Around competition (and the first by a Sister in the team event since Dominique in '96) was both a newsworthy achievement and a great source of pride for many Black folk. And if you think it strange that an athlete accomplishing something in the sports world that is rare for someone of his/her ethnicity would create a stir, then you obviously weren't paying attention to the whole "Linsanity" craze from earlier this year (and funny, I don't recall too many White people complaining about that...). And I have a few questions of my own for those who question why Gabby's race should be mentioned:
First, if you have such an aversion to a Black person's race being highlighted when they achieve something great, do you also have the same reluctance to race being mentioned when a Black person does something wrong? I mean, I've heard and read an awful lot of complaints about the need to better highlight the statistics that show Blacks comitting crimes at a rate disproportionate to their population; and I hear and read plenty of commentary that greatly exaggerate the criminal behavior of Black "thugs" in the NFL and NBA, yet Gabby Douglas wins two Gold Medals, and suddenly we shouldn't put any emphasis on identifying her race? And second, why is it a bad thing for y'all to hear someone say that America's newest sweetheart is Black? Is it so hard for you admire the accomplishments of someone Black that you have to put your mind in some state where the only way you can see someone like Gabby Douglas as a hero is if you pretend you don't notice her skin color? You can only celebrate a Black person's achievement if no one burdens you by mentioning that the person is Black? I don't get it...
Well, now that I've covered some White folks' bullshit, let us now get to the petty, silly assed, skewed priority foolishness of some of our own people. Of course you know that I am referring to the jackasses that took to Twitter because they decided that Gabby Douglas' performance at the Olympic Games wasn't nearly as important than the fact that she hadn't gotten her hair did in the latest style before heading off to London. Well to this nonsense I say, how was her hair fixed any differently from anyone else's in the competition? Let's take a look:
, then she helped lead the ladies' team to the Gold Medal in the team competition, and then followed that up with a Gold in the Individual All-Around competition. And just like that, she was a world-wide overnight sensation! But alas, whenever new-found fame arrives, bullshit is right behind it, nipping at its heels.I'm a person that thinks the label "hater" is about as over- and mis-used as a term could possibly be, and I generally try to avoid using it, but in this case, there were some serious haters standing in line waiting to get at Ms. Gabby - or at the people who were either close to her, or proud of her success. I got my first taste of this in reading various message boards,
as well as Facebook, and Twitter. Why, many White folks ask, must a fuss be made over Gabby being the first African-American to win an individual All-Around Gold? Why must her race be mentioned at all? Why must Black people be termed "African-American" at all; why can't they just be called "Americans"?Well, the simplest answer is that Gabby's gold medals were historic achievements in the realm of the Olympics. Although Balcks have long made their presence felt in the Summer Olympics as a whole, gymnastics has been an area where we have not had a whole lot of participation. So yes, Gabby's first-ever Gold Medal for a Black woman in the All Around competition (and the first by a Sister in the team event since Dominique in '96) was both a newsworthy achievement and a great source of pride for many Black folk. And if you think it strange that an athlete accomplishing something in the sports world that is rare for someone of his/her ethnicity would create a stir, then you obviously weren't paying attention to the whole "Linsanity" craze from earlier this year (and funny, I don't recall too many White people complaining about that...). And I have a few questions of my own for those who question why Gabby's race should be mentioned:
First, if you have such an aversion to a Black person's race being highlighted when they achieve something great, do you also have the same reluctance to race being mentioned when a Black person does something wrong? I mean, I've heard and read an awful lot of complaints about the need to better highlight the statistics that show Blacks comitting crimes at a rate disproportionate to their population; and I hear and read plenty of commentary that greatly exaggerate the criminal behavior of Black "thugs" in the NFL and NBA, yet Gabby Douglas wins two Gold Medals, and suddenly we shouldn't put any emphasis on identifying her race? And second, why is it a bad thing for y'all to hear someone say that America's newest sweetheart is Black? Is it so hard for you admire the accomplishments of someone Black that you have to put your mind in some state where the only way you can see someone like Gabby Douglas as a hero is if you pretend you don't notice her skin color? You can only celebrate a Black person's achievement if no one burdens you by mentioning that the person is Black? I don't get it...
Well, now that I've covered some White folks' bullshit, let us now get to the petty, silly assed, skewed priority foolishness of some of our own people. Of course you know that I am referring to the jackasses that took to Twitter because they decided that Gabby Douglas' performance at the Olympic Games wasn't nearly as important than the fact that she hadn't gotten her hair did in the latest style before heading off to London. Well to this nonsense I say, how was her hair fixed any differently from anyone else's in the competition? Let's take a look:
I dunno, maybe it's me, but it looks like everybody's hair is fixed exactly the same way to me. Nobody's hair looks any better or worse than anybody else's. You know why? Because those young ladies weren't going out to the club; they didn't travel to London to be in a Bronner Brothers hair convention; they were there to compete in the O-freakin'-LYMPICS! Even though they were in a "glamour" event, complete with nice shiny outfits, those outfits are designed first and foremost for function; the same applied to their hair. To those who had crap to say about Gabby's hair, you need to get your priorities straight. If some of y'all cared as much about the condition of your bodies as you did about the condition of your hair, we might be in better physical condition overall as a people. Then again, I guess there ain't much motivation for some sisters to get in shape when so many of us brothers (many of whom need to do better at keeping our own bodies in shape) ignore your waist-lines to drool over your be-hinds. As for me, give me a woman with her hair pinned back and working it out in the gym or on the track over one who has a fly hairstyle, but also cottage cheese thighs and an overlapping belly any day of the week and twice on Sundays...
The final bit of hateration came from the media, in the form of questioning Gabby about her mother's finances. Seems Natalie Hawkins filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, and that bastion of virtue and good taste, TMZ, broke the story in the middle of the Olympics (as they also did about Gold Medal swimmer Ryan Lochte's parents' house being up for foreclosure), and reporters couldn't wait to hit Gabby with questions about it. Seriously, though? Why would you ask a 16 year old about her mother's financial matters? And even if there was justification in doing so as the price of her new fame (as more that one talking lamely claimed), you couldn't wait until she was done competing? Gabby, as always, handled herself with grace and class (more than one can say about the reporters), but it was small wonder that she wasn't herself in her last two events.
But you know, putting aside those instances of nonsense, this was a great moment in time for young Gabrielle Douglas. She was the best in the world at what she did, she made history, gained worldwide fame, got her face on boxes of Corn Flakes, and set herself up to make a nice piece of change in future endorsements. All in all, life is looking pretty damned sweet for Ms. Gabby; now maybe someone can come up with a better nickname for her. And as for the haters, well, y'all can go have a bowl of Corn Flakes and a smile...
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