After years of hate, Serena Williams can dress however she wants

all weekend, serena williams— also known as the “GOAT” — made waves at Paris Fashion Week 2024 with a seemingly different look.Criticism of the 42-year-old athlete commented on her skin color. appeared lighter and even accused her of having facial plastic surgery. The only question that should be asked is: why would Williams care about what others think?

Users on X/Twitter Shared videos of celebrities at a show and captured this: “It’s so sad.” Clip Prompt another user Response: “It’s interesting, though, that you can see skin lightning, plastic surgery enhancements to the face, especially the nose, etc. Remember those proud little Compton girls with their braids and colorful beads?”

This is indeed revisionist history at its best. Williams has faced scrutiny for years over racism. When she dominated the tennis world, white people often viewed her as inhumane. Sadly, black people have also jumped on the bandwagon, denying her humanity and femininity. Williams has become fodder for hate and vile comments simply because she is a black woman.

Williams is a dark-skinned, athletic Black woman whose decades of breaking records in a predominantly white sport have meant she has been a frequent target of sexist and anti-Black attacks. After winning the French Open in June 2015, Williams was called an “animal” and compared her body to that of men.

However, the slander began when she was young. In 2001, at the infamous BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, Serena and her sister Venus Williams were not only booed by fans but also called the “N-word” “. One even told the couple: “‘I hope it’s ’75; we’ll skin you alive,'” Serena Recalled to USA Today

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Williams boycotted the event for more than a decade as a result, returning in 2015. In 2009, Jason Whitlock said she had “chosen to suffocate” her beauty with an unsightly thick layer of muscular blubber. In 2012, Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki mocked Williams: Filling her bra and skirt in a competition with her.

Despite decades of abuse and cruelty, Williams continued to break tennis records, including: 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 4 Olympic gold medals, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and a “Serena Grand Slam” Through”. She is also in love with her husband, Alexis Ohanian, with whom she has two beautiful daughters.

If Serena wants to wear makeup, have surgery, or change her appearance, she has every right to do whatever makes her feel beautiful. Black women receive hostility no matter what we do, so we might as well enjoy it.