“Lest We Forget”
As we celebrate the election of the first African American and 44th. President of the United States, Barack Obama, we have to be mindful that racial barriers and discrimination has not ended. We must be ever vigilant. In the tennis arena some recent events within the USTA come to mind. Zina Garrison has been fired as the Fed Cup captain, and has filed a racial discrimination suit against the organization. Rodney Harmon a long time many position loyal employee and recent USA Olympic tennis coach was fired shortly after retuning from the Beijing games. In 2005 two African American tennis umpires Cecil Holland and Sande French both highly qualified long time officials filed a multimillion dollar racial discrimination law suit against the USTA. The organization hired its first ever Chief Diversity Officer, Karlyn Lothery in 2005. She vacated the position in late 2008. Is there a pattern here?
All of this is very interesting and eye opening enlight of the organizations tier one priority of Multicultural Participation. This initiative was started in 1991, as the Minority Participation program, an effort to get people of color fully integrated within the organization and has at best, mixed results at this point. The history of the organization reveals that for the first 69 years of operation African Americans and Chinese Americans were barred from participating in the sport of tennis and any other position within this entity. In 1950 with steady pressure from white players, the media, and other civic groups Althea Gibson gained entry to a United States Lawn Tennis Association (USTLA) tournament. The organization has long since shortened the name to United States Tennis Association. The late great player and humanitarian Arthur Ashe made his impact some years after Ms. Gibson’s. You should also know that the USTA as it is now known, was by an act of congress deemed the governing body of tennis in the United States some years ago.
“Don’t fall asleep at the switch”
Don’t get side tracked by the great on court success of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena. These beautiful, articulate, and talented young ladies are revolutionizing the player side of the game. The player side of tennis is but one of the many sides of the huge tennis arena. Tennis is a business, make no mistake about it. As any other business it is multifaceted. The administrative side of the sport has an annual operating budget in the $200,000,000 range. The organziation uses many vendor services, some of which could be contracted for by people of color. I’ll answer the question you’re thinking right now by stating that we are not getting a fair share piece of the pie.The small group of professional players that you see on TV make up less that 1% of the people playing tennis in the United States. The organization has over 700,000 members. Many of these members participate in tennis leagues annually sponsored by the USTA all over the country. The season ends with district and sectional play-offs leading to national championship events in places like Arizona, Texas, and California to name of few. Don’t get me wrong the organization does many things to encourage participation, but the playing field is not level in terms of equal opportunities for people of color throughout the orginizations structure. Tennis is a microcosm of society as a whole and is experiencing pressure to change and embrace the total diversity of people as reflected by the make up of the many ethnicities and cultures that is the very fabric of this great country. Does this make sense? After all isn’t this the american way? Equal opportunity for all.
Bernard A. Chavis, Author
“The Games of Tennis” An African American Journey