The hatred strewn onto Gabby Douglas during these Olympic games, and in 2012 when she was only 16, reveals some of the darkest realities of racism and sexism in America. She is performing at a level far beyond what most human beings can conceive of in a sport that takes more dedication than any yet delivers some of the fewest rewards in terms of professional opportunities. She has triumphed as the greatest in the world at something that resides at the very pinnacle of what a human being can achieve, in body, mind, and spirit.
Some viewers were outraged that she didn’t place her hand over her heart during the group Olympic medal ceremony. She stood at attention, with deep respect, and felt the power of the moment. I have nothing but respect for Michael Phelps, and am not criticizing him for this, but during his medal ceremony, at the height of the anthem, he started cracking up, laughing, and pointing, and basically moving instantly from tears, which did convey the power of the moment for him, into guffaws. I don’t blame him for this, at all. I have huge respect for him in all ways. A friend from Baltimore simply cracked him up from the stands with a reminder of something they do at home during Orioles games.
But, ask yourself this. What if Gabby Douglas had dissolved into laughter during a medal ceremony? For ANY reason? Can you imagine the backlash THEN? As an African American woman, she gets so much grief, after all the sacrifice of time and energy she has made to represent America in a sport that is so frequently off the mainstream’s radar. And, she gets ridiculed for where her hand is, while rapt and focusing completely on the gravity of the moment? Just imagine if she had burst out laughing. Imagine the hatred flowing then. From people who are sitting at a computer screen or tweeting on a smartphone. After what she’s achieved.
People also complained about how she looked while her two teammates were competing in the individual all-around competition. Do you realize she got the third highest score in the previous round, but could not compete because of the two-per-country limit? Imagine if you had given your life to a sport. Imagine what it means to be in Rio, at your second Olympics, and what it took to get there. Imagine if you KNEW you were the third best, as it happened to fall, of all the gymnasts there at that moment and you had to sit it out and watch others compete. I don’t think most people can conceive of it. Most people have never been as devoted to anything as Gabby is to gymnastics. To be that devoted, to have given that much, and that accomplished, quite possibly at the end of your active competitive career, and to have to sit on the sidelines when you were in the top three? How anyone could criticize her for anything she displayed in this moment I have no idea.
But, then again, of course, I do. Because she’s an African American woman. No matter how she excels or what she accomplishes, she’s still supposed to fit into the box put in place for her. Somehow, people allow themselves to feel superior to her for complete trivialities even while claiming her accomplishments for themselves as Americans.
I don’t have a twitter account, but I am asking those of you who do to go and show her an outpouring of support and love. I thought about joining just to be able to do so, and may still. Support this hero of ours! So lucky that we have such an exceptional human being representing our country.
UPDATE: Thanks to all of you for keeping this diary on the rec list for most of this evening. I didn’t expect that and am so pleased! Not for myself, of course, but because the message has been getting exposure. I’m going to paste in one of my comments from below…. it’s how things are striking me now. It occurred to me to look at the actual physical contrast between raising a hand to the heart and what Gabby Douglas has done with her body to represent this country. Will paste it in below, but do want to say that I’m grateful. Especially grateful, in this moment, for our strong, diverse, powerful women’s gymnastics team. They represent the country I’ve always known, and believed in. I want the America they see and feel to be an increasingly dominant vision as this country evolves….. because that America will be a better place in every way imaginable.
<<Those who focus on issues like hands on the heart and flag pins reveal the opposite of what they intend when it comes to true effort made to better this country. It’s very much like Trump’s projection of his deeply rooted flaws onto others. It’s easy to put on a pin or a bumper sticker. Easy to raise your hand to your heart. It’s HARD to do the real work of bettering your country, like Gabby has done. The real work is hard, and is the direct opposite of pinning on a cheap metal pin that was probably made in China. Honestly…… you can tell the level of bullshit in someone’s patriotism by how easy that patriotism, or image of patriotism, is to achieve. Sit on your ass and send a violent, hateful tweet. Stick on a sticker. Or………. actually DO something. It even comes down to this, to me -- look at the physical difference between raising a hand to the heart and what Gabby has actually done physically. Look at some pathetic Trump supporter sitting on his ass in front of a computer talking about raising a hand…… someone who couldn’t do .01% of what Gabby can do with her body…….. that says it all to me. You go ahead and stick on that pin or raise your hand. Look at what Gabby did with HER body to represent America.
Lazy, entitled, hateful, ignorant, weak….. The promise of America is overtaking you. Get used to it.>>