"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 returning 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 is pattern here?
All of this is very interesting and eye opening in light of the organization's tier one priority of
Multicultural Participation. This initiative was started in 1991, as the
Minority Participation program, in an effort to get people of color fully integrated within the organization, and has had at best mixed results to 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 the 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 (USLTA) tournament. The organization has long since shortened the name to
United State 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 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.. The sport of tennis is a business, make no mistake about it. As in many businesses it is multifaceted. The administrative side of the USTA has an annual operating budget in the
$200,000,000 range. The organization 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 than
1% of the people playing tennis in the Untied States. The organization has over
700,000 members. Many of these members participate in organized 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 a 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 organizations 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 ethnicity's 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
