2019 Williams Watch- It's US Open Time!

The last major Grand Slam tournament of the 2019 tennis season happens in New York, and it's one that Serena Williams will probably be highly motivated to take after the controversial way it ended last year for her.

Serena started this tournament seeded eighth and for once on the opposite side of the women's singles tourney bracket from Venus.

Big Sis started out with an opening round 6-1, 6-0 straight set win over China's Zheng Saisai.   Her time at Flushing Meadows ended when Elina Svitolina sent her out of the second round with a 4-6, 4-6 straight set loss

Little Sis started her 2019 US Open experience with a opening round match with her rival in her own mind Maria Sharapova Sharadopa.  Serena spanked that azz for the 19th consecutive meeting in a 6-1 6-1 straight set romp that took Williams less than one hour to accomplish.

Rivalry?  What rivalry?

Serena then had to do three sets of work in the second round against fellow American Caty McNally.

The wild card qualifier McNally captured the first set 7-5.  Little Sis stepped her game up another level to take the next two sets and punch her ticket to the third round with a hard fought 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win

Serena then took out Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to get to the fourth round and a match with Serbia's Petra Martic. 

Little Sis once again handled her tennis business, nothing another straight set 6-3, 6-4 win to push her into the US Open quarterfinals against 18th seeded China's Wang Qiang.

If she gets past this quarterfinal match, she would face the winner of the Elina Svitolina- Johanna Konta match in the semis with a spot in the US Open finals on the line.

Correction: Four Black Women Have Won Major Beauty Pageants In 2019

Been seeing the memes out there that have proudly pointed out that with only the Miss Universe pageant left to be conducted,  Black women in the US have won in succession the Miss Teen USA, Miss America and the Miss USA Universe pageants for the first time ever in the same calendar year.

Major props to 2019 Miss Teen USA winner Kaleigh Garris, Miss America 2019 Nia Franklin and Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst for doing so.   They are all accomplished women and I'm exceedingly proud of all of them snatching crowns in the same calendar year.

Even more impressive, Miss Teen USA Kaleigh Garris did so while rocking a natural hair style.

But people are forgetting the fourth Black woman who also made history by winning a major beauty pageant title this year, and she did so back in March.

Jazell Barbie Royale became the first Black women to ever win the Miss International Queen trans pageant in Thailand.  Her accomplishment was just as historic as the pother women being celebrated, but once again when it comes to Black Trans excellence, the Black community sadly is ignoring it.

Let me repeat for y'all that Black trans women ARE Black women.   When we rise and excel at doing whatever we accomplish, so does the entire Black community.

So what if the Miss International Queen is a pageant for trans women?   No Black woman from the African Diaspora had ever won that pageant in its fifteen year history until this year, and it had been 2005 since the last American woman had won it.

So yes, I would like to see it acknowledged that FOUR Black women have won major pageant titles in the same year.   If no one else will acknowledge that fact, I damned sure will. 

'Toxic Silence' Nominated For A Lammy Award!

I had talked about UHCL professor Dr William T Hoston's book Toxic Silence a few months ago in my Unapologetically Trans column I write for OutSmart magazine.

The book is focused on the Houston Black trans community, and interviews some local trans women for it.  It also offers some suggested action steps that need to be taken to reduce anti-trans violence aimed at Black trans women and is on my personal bookshelf.

I was happy to discover that Toxic Silence has been nominated  for a Lambda Literary Award in the LGBTQ Studies category

The Lammys as they are nicknamed, have been around since 1988.  They are given out by the US based Lambda Literary Foundation, and honor published works that celebrate or explore  LGBTQ themes. 

To be eligible for the Lammy. a book must have been published in the US in the year current to the award    The Lammy categories have grown from 14 to now 24, and cover fiction, nonfiction, biographies, and LGBTQ studies just to name a few of them.

The finalists for this years Lammy Awards were selected by a panel of over 60 literary professionals.  Those literary professionals then sorted through over 1000 book submission from over 300 publishers to get down to the finalist books.     

The 31st annual Lammys award ceremony will take place on June 3, and is being hosted by a Lammy award winning author and performer in Mx Justin Vivian Bond 

Congrats on your nomination Dr Hoston!  I'm hoping the Houston area, UH-Clear Lake and you have reasons to celebrate on that evening.
 

Serena Wins The AP Female Athlete of the Year For 5th Time!

She nearly died  after giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia on September 1 ,2017, and had to have four surgeries for life threatening blood clots.

But there she was in May, standing majestically in a black catsuit at the French Open and playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since she won the 2017 Australian Open in her usual dominating fashion while 24 weeks pregnant. 

She made it through three rounds at Roland Garros before she had to withdraw due to a pectoral muscle injury.   Williams made it to the Wimbledon and US Open finals but fell just short of capturing her 24th Grand Slam title.

Along the way she continues to exposes the ugly underbelly of racism and misogynoir that keeps getting aimed at her by the champagne swilling tennis powers that be.

And that racist BS is why I'm ride or die for Serena and big sis Venus.

While she hasn't passed that homophobic twit Margaret Court yet for all time Grand Slam wins, at age 37, what Serena did do in this un-Serena like year on the court is remarkable in itself.   She returned to playing near championship level tennis mere months after having a child, which was miraculous in itself.

Superhero and #BlackGirlMagic personified.

Williams was named the AP Female Athlete of the year for the fifth time . 

World champion gymnast and Houston homegirl Simone Biles, who had a historic year herself,  finished second.  Notre Dame basketballer Arike Ogunbowale, who hit game winning shots in the 2018 NCAA tournament semis over mighty UConn and in the national championship game over Mississippi State to help the Fighting Irish win its second a national championship,was third in the voting.   Snowboarder Chloe Kim and swimmer Katie Ledecky, the 2017 winner, completed the top five vote getters.

Williams is one  win away from tying the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won the award six times.   She previously won the AP Female Athlete of the Year Award in 2002, 2009, 2013 and 2015 in large part for absolute domination of her tennis competition.

This award was more for persevering through a personally challenging year for her.

Hope she returns to tennis dominance in 2019, starting at the Australian Open in a few weeks. 

Sharif Durhams Elected NLGJA President

Lost in all the drama that took place on  Saturday night is the historic and groundbreaking news that NLGJA has elected its first Black president. 

He is Sharif Durhams, who is the senior editor for news and alerting at CNN Digital.  His two year term at the helm of NLGJA started September 9.   Durhams has been a lifetime member of NLGJA since 2000, has co-chaired a previous NLGJA convention, and has served for several years on the organization's board of directors.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), of which Durhams is also a lifetime member, hailed his election. 

"NABJ is proud of members Sharif Durhams and Cheryl W. Thompson for their recent elections as presidents of NLGJA and IRE respectively," NABJ President Sarah Glover said. "As the country's demographics continue to become increasingly more diverse, it's noteworthy that NABJ members are stepping forward to take on organizational leadership roles that shape media discourse and the future of journalism."
"My goal is to improve the diversity of this organization as well as it's outreach," said Durhams, who also has a lifetime memberships in the NABJ. "I definitely want both organizations to work more together. In some ways, our issues mirror each other, such as making sure there is support in our newsrooms for diversity and getting people from diverse backgrounds into leadership positions. 

"There are ways we can back each other up to make sure all of our voices are heard." 

One of Durham's goals is to not only build on the efforts of outgoing president Jen Christensen build diversity within NLGJA, he also seeks to grow the 28 year old organization's membership ranks and its financial coffers to ensure stability and its long term staying power. 

Durhams also wants NLGJA to become a more vocal thought leader in the journalism world in addition to train newsrooms in how to better cover transgender people and LGBTQ communities of color. 

And I'm looking forward to working with him over the next two years to make that happen. 

Congratulations on your new position in the NLGJA ranks, Sharif!   Congratulations on also making history!    .

 

Historic Election Night In Florida!

When the votes were counted after the polls closed in the Florida primary election last night, Black history was made in the Sunshine State.

Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum was the surprise winner of the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary when the votes were all counted.  Gwen Graham, the daughter of former Florida governor Bob Graham,  had been considered the frontrunner for the nomination.

Gillum never led in any on the polls conducted prior to Election Night, and was consistently third in every one of them.   But he prevailed in the only poll that mattered, the one at the ballot box. 

The FAMU alum becomes the first African American to capture a major party nomination for governor in Florida

He goes on to face in the general election Rep. Ron DeRacist  DeSantis, who wrapped himself around Dolt 45, and wasted no time injecting race baiting rhetoric into the gubernatorial campaign and getting called on it.

Also making this night a historic one in the Sunshine State is state Rep Sean Shaw (D-Tampa)/  He won his Democratic Party attorney general primary race in his bid to become the first Black attorney general in the state's history.

These dual wins combined with Ron DeRacist's 'monkey this up' comment dissing Gillum less than 24 hours after he'd made history will no doubt juice African-American turnout in Florida for the general election, and that will have down ballot implications for other Florida Democratic candidates.

The other wild card in this Florida race is the 100,000 Puerto Ricans who have moved to Florida after being displaced from the island in the wake of the piss poor response to Hurricane Maria by the Trump misadministration

Think they are going to be inclined to vote for Republicans after the Trump misadministration's 'fantatsic job' they did in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria?

We'll see on November 6

Fran Watson Runoff Election TX State Senate Bid Falls Short

One of the bummer results from last night's Texas party primary runoff election races is that Fran Watson's historic bid to become only the third African American woman to be elected a Texas state senator ended last night.

Had Watson won, she would have not only stayed on course to become the third African American woman state senator, she would have possibly become the first ever openly LGBT one in Texas history.

Texas State Senate District 17 is split across three counties, Harris, Fort Bend and Brazoria.   Despite Watson taking an early lead by winning the Brazoria County portion of the district, the same didn't happen in Harris and Fort Bend counties. 

Rita Lucido will get the Democratic nomination for Senate District 17 and will get a rematch with the incumbent senator Joan Huffman (R).  Best of luck to her this fall.

But I do wish to take a moment to congratulate Fran Watson for a job well done in her first campaign for public office.  She forced a runoff with the favored Lucido.  7,659 Texans voted for you across three counties in this runoff election  and 12,621 did so on March 6. 

Countless other #TeamFran people supported you in your historic bid to become a Texas senator along with several organizations .

Fran. you didn't lose.   We Texans lost by not having a quality person like you repping Senate District 17 when the next Texas legislative session starts in January   We need more progressive leaning people and politicians who will put the people first.  We need your thoughtful, eloquent voice resonating in Texas senate hearings and the Texas senate chamber during floor debates.

I have no doubts that it will happen for you.   Unfortunately it wasn't last night.

Fran, just a note from our history for you and everyone else to peruse.  Barbara Jordan (who you were frequently compared to) lost her first two bids for the Texas House in 1962 and 1964.   She eventually won that historic 1966 state Senate race and every campaign after that until she retired from Congress in 1978. 

Something great is in store for you.   It's going to be interesting to see exactly what that is.

My Trip To Wakanda

I went to check out Black Panther today at the AMC 8 Houston.   I've been looking for an excuse to go there since they bought it, and am happy I now have another inside the Loop movie theater option to choose when I'm ready to see a movie.

For you Houstonians going 'What movie theater downtown?", it was the former Angelika Theater in Bayou Place that closed down in August 2010, then reopened as a Sundance Cinema before being bought out by AMC where I attended the 1 PM screening of it.

But back to Black Panther.   Was it worth the wait?   All I have to say about it for now since I don't want to spoil it for you folks who haven't seen it yet is hell yeah and WOW!

It was so nice not only seeing myself represented on the silver screen, but so many kick butt women.

I also watched Black Panther in 3D, and will probably see it again    This movie is shattering box office records, and is cruising toward a $210-215 million dollar opening weekend, which is the highest ever for any Marvel Cinematic Universe film,

Vanillacentric privileged people are hating on it for doing so to the point they are trying to 'scurr' other white folks into NOT going to see the movie by posting fake news of violence that hasn't occurred.

Oh well, y'all can #BeMad and #StayMad about that.  We're going to keep bum rushing the multiplexes to see it

One of the things that did bother me was having a young white male in line at the theater I went to see it at in downtown Houston show up with a small backpack and roller suitcase. 

The reason it bothered me was because I remember the mass shooting that happened in an Aurora, CO movie theater back in 2012.  It was why I was concerned this person's suitcase and backpack weren't inspected before they let him in.

It became a problem halfway through my viewing of the film when it was stopped and the lights went up in the auditorium after the folks who had been seated by him in the back part of the theater ( I was in the sixth row) noticed he wasn't there and reported it to the ticket booth and manager.

They searched the auditorium for a few minutes to make sure he and his bags weren't there before turning the auditorium lights back down and resuming the film.

Despite that drama and having to do a sprint to the bathroom when my attempt to hold my bladder until the movie ended became an emergency sprint to the lavatory when my bladder said 'screw what you want ' and demanded immediate attention.

I was planning on seeing it again anyway.,and now I have even more of a reason to do so

Erin Jackson Is Going To The Olympics!

24 year old Erin Jackson has only been participating in long track speed skating full time for four months.   Coming into the US Olympic Speed Skating Trials in West Allis, WI she had posted a personal best 39.51 time in the 500m back on December 23 in Salt Lake City.

But the former University of Florida engineering student and inline skater from Ocala, FL picked a great time to set new personal best times, and did so when the pressure was highest.

"I really wasn't expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can. " said Jackson. "A couple of weeks ago I was still in the 40's.  So this has all happened pretty fast."

The best she can is going to take her to Pyeongchang, South Korea and the Winter Olympics.

She went 39.22 in her first heat during the Trials Friday night, and even faster in her second heat at 39.04 to become the first Black female athlete ever to qualify for a US Olympic long track speed skating team.

Jackson finished third in the 500m, behind her Ocala, FL homegirl Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma to punch her ticket to Pyeongchang.

February 8 and the start of the upcoming Winter Games is getting more interesting by the day with all this Black Girl Magic happening.

Happy 75th Birthday Miss Major! You're Still F*****g Here!

Y'all know I have much love and respect for my trans elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and pick up the phone to call and check in on her from time to time.  Sometimes she does the reverse and calls to check up on me. 

Today it was me calling her to wish her a happy 75th birthday, and was disappointed when I got her voice mail.  But I left a message and started writing this post.

Happy birthday Miss Major!  It's nice to see that your story is finally being told for posterity and the historical record.  Thank you and your generation of trans women for being out and proud in an era that seriously discouraged it with anti-crossdressing laws and anti-trans repression.

Thank you for being a mentor to my generation of trans kids, and telling us our history so we can pass it on to the next generation of trans kids.

Those kids are at this moment raising the expectation bar even higher on what it means to be an unapologetically Black trans person

And finally, thanks to the Creator for blessing you with the ability to still be f*****g here, gracing us with your presence, checking in on me and others from time to time, and telling your story.

Thank you for also being an inspiration to all of us and reminding us and the world that trans people didn't just pop up all of a sudden in the late 20th century.  We've always been f*****g here and part of the community.

Happy birthday Miss Major!  May you have many more of them!

Being A Black Athlete Has Always Been Political

With the conservafools getting all bent out of shape about Colin Kaepernick NFL anthem protests that are being joined by other NFL players, and now going viral thanks to 45's racist mouth, need to point out that being a Black athlete has always been intimately tied to politics.

From the hatred aimed Jack Johnson's way as heavyweight champion and beating a succession of 'Great White Hopes' challenging him for his title to Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson and  Serena Williams, athletic excellence has never been enough for the Black athlete.  They also in many cases have to navigate racism, sexism. and countless other issues from the hardwood to the tennis courts.

Black athletes don't get the luxury of just 'shutting up and play' as the conservafools derisively shout at them.  In many cases Black athletes have used their sporting platforms to call attention to the social injustices of the day as Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown did.

Or racist controversies find them.

And when they do call out America's faults, they are passionately hated on by White Americans as Colin Kaepernick has discovered.   He chose to take a knee during the national anthem in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and to protest police brutality aimed predominately at Black Americans.

Bob Beamon almost didn't make the 1968 Olympic team and get to execute that then world and current Olympic record 29-2 long jump at the Mexico City Olympic games.  People were upset that he and other Black athletes protested the WAC Track and Field Championships held at Brigham Young University that spring.   They were being protested because of the Mormon church's anti-Black theological beliefs and UTEP suspended him.. 

Black female athletes also have had to battle in addition to the racism aimed at them, misogyny. accusations of cheating and 'that's a man' shade simply for excelling at their sport as the Williams sisters, Caster Semenya, Brittney Griner and a far too long list of African descended female athletes can testify to.

Florence Griffith Joyner brought style to track and field along with undeniable speed and talent/  Her 1988 100m world record still hasn't been touched.   But she was dogged by allegations of steroid use that followed her to the grave despite years of clean drug tests.

And how many times have we seen Serena Williams continue to win Grand Slam tournaments, with her 2017 Australian Open win happening while she was 23 weeks pregnant. while having 'that's a man' shade and accusations of substance abuse repeatedly uttered at her?

Black athletes are in many cases also carrying the hopes and aspirations of an entire people on their shoulders, especially if they are in a white dominated sport like tennis, swimming or gymnastics.

It's why Serena 's repeated Grand Slam tournament victories or the success of Dominique Dawes, Gabby Douglas and most recently Simone Biles was a point of pride in Black America.

 

And that Black athlete doesn't even have to be from the US for Black Americans to cheer for them. We were cheering just as loudly for Usain Bolt as his Jamaican countrymen were and griped at the obvious discrimination that French figure skater Surya Bonaly faced as she was competing in the figure skating world of the 90's.

Being a Black athlete has always been a political act.  As long as injustice and anti-Blackness exists in the world, it's sadly going to continue to be that way.

Brienne Minor Wins Historic 2017 NCAA Women's Singles Tennis Title

Black history was made on May 29 at the recent NCAA Division I women's tennis championships that were conducted at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. GA.

University of Michigan sophomore Brienne Minor became the first African-American woman ever to win the NCAA Division I women's tennis title   In case you're wondering, the first African-American man to win an NCAA men's singles tennis title was the legendary Arthur Ashe in 1965.

She was the 2014 Illinois state girls singles champion, but in this NCAA women's singles tournament, she was ranked 24th in the nation, and also played with her Michigan teammates in the NCAA Division I team tennis championships that started in Athens back on May 18.   .

Michigan advanced to the Round of 16, beating Youngstown State and Kentucky before being eliminated by national finalist runner-up Stanford.

When the NCAA women's singles tourney started on May 24, the unseeded Minor faced the task of having to win six matches in six days to get to the finals of the 2017 NCAA women's tourney while battling tendinitis in her knees.

Minor was also in the section of the bracket that contained the number one seed Francesca Di Lorenzo of Ohio State.and was facing in the opening round the woman who ended her 2016 NCAA women's tournament run in Miami's Sinead Lohan.

It took her three sets, but she beat Lohan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to jumpstart her title run. Di Lorenzo was surprisingly upset in the opening round by Pepperdine's Mayar Sharif Ahmad, and Minor knocked her off in straight sets in the Round of 16 on her way to the finals .

Minor would face Florida senior and tournament sixth seed Belinda Woolcock  The Aussie was playing her last match as a Gator and had only dropped one set on her way to the championship finals.  She also wanted to add the NCAA women's singles title to the 2017 NCAA team tennis championship she played a huge role in Florida winning over Stanford.

Woolcock played 14 singles and doubles matches over the eleven days of the NCAA Division I tourney with an 11-1 record to help Florida win the NCAA team championship, was named the Most Valuable Player in the NCAA team tournament, and made the all Tournament team in singles and doubles.

But it was Brienne Minor's day and she was on an eight match tournament winning streak at this point. With her family cheering her on, Minor made the admittedly tired Woolcock run all over the court as she raced out to a 4-0 first set lead before Woolcock broke her serve to finally get on the first set scoreboard.

Woolcock gave the service break back to stoke Minor to a 5-1 first set lead and won the next two games to close to 5-3, but dropped her service game to give Minor a one set lead in this NCAA title match.

Minor held serve to begin the second set and jumped out to a 3-1 and 4-2 lead before Woolcock made one last push and closed to 4-3 by blanking Minor with a love service game.   But Minor stormed back by winning the next two to take the set and the 2017 NCAA women's championship in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

Minor knocked off three players ranked in the top 16 in the nation to earn this historic title, and not only gave Michigan their first ever NCAA women's singles tennis national champion, she made some Black history in the process.

With the win she also earned a wild card entry into the 2017 US Open that begins on August 28