Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible. Yomi Adegoke

       #BlackExcellence

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      From one role model to another: if there’s anyone who embodies the twice-as-hard mentality, it is Serena Williams. Navigating and dominating the whitest-of-white sports, she rose above racism and sexism to win 23 Grand Slams. She isn’t just a great female athlete or even the best black athlete: she is undisputedly one of the greatest athletes ever. When I was growing up, I would support her as if she were British: her blackness and femaleness were central to both our identities and she made me so proud to be a black girl. Why? Because I realised that my desire for her to win was because she is a shining example of black excellence. In a society that often makes us feel, as dark-skinned women, that we are at the bottom of the pecking order, her success on the court made me feel better about my existence as a black girl in the world. It gave me the confidence to believe that I too could achieve great things if I also worked twice as hard.

      Yet in spite of this, Maria Sharapova, Williams’s blonde, white ‘non-rival’ rival, was for a very long time the highest-paid female athlete in the world, despite only winning five Grand Slams. What Maria lacks on court she makes up for in her financial advantage off it, because corporate sponsors prefer a certain type of ‘look’ to be the face of their products.

      When this was brought up in a New York Times interview with Serena in 2015, her response was diplomatic: ‘If they want to market someone who is white and blonde, that’s their choice – I have a lot of partners who are very happy to work with me. I can’t sit here and say I should be higher on the list because I have won more. I’m happy for her, because she worked hard, too. There is enough at the table for everyone.’¹⁹ I respect Serena for her humility, but working twice as hard and sometimes getting half as good back has sometimes left a bad taste in my mouth.