"Tennis is a prejudice game. ... People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be. But if you get some little White no good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert who cannot hit the ball, they will claim this is great."

--Richard Williams (Father of Williams Sisters).

"They... don't know what to do in Tennis with people like the William Sisters. The announcers don't know how to report on them, they don't know how to talk about them."

--Award-winning Sportswriter, Dave Zirin

Yesterday morning I watched Venus and Serena Williams both defeat their opponents in peculiar ways.

Serena's match was more demanding, inching close to three hours as she forced through a majestic win after trailing 6-7 in the first set. She ended up winning the subsequent sets 7-5 and 8-6. It was a game for the story books. History made. Through self-motivation as never-before-seen, she conquered her way into a 5^th appearance at the Wimbledon final, scheduled for tomorrow. She has previously won the 2002 and 2003 tournaments.

Venus' match couldn't be more different. Wrapping-up in less than an hour--51 minutes to be exact--she laid barren her opponent, the world no. 1 seed (B.S.), with straight sets of 6-1, and 6-0. Venus, coming on the heels of her junior sister's victory, strolled unchallenged, head held high, into her 8^th Wimbledon final. As winner of five past Wimbledon titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008), there's a strong likelihood of Venus adding a sixth this coming Saturday.

More importantly, what was established yesterday is the unflinching dedication and discipline these two beautiful, mannered, diligent sisters have nurtured since entering professional Tennis in the mid-'90s. The intelligent observer would assume that, for this, they have been compensated with respect and reverence, but such a person would come as close to the truth as the Devil is to God.

From day 1, both have been treated as outcasts--suspects--aliens--Niggers. Raised in the streets of Compton, and trained on Crenshaw grounds, Serena and Venus Williams are anomalies in the guarded world of professional Tennis. No big names are behind their success, beyond "Mommy," "Daddy," and "Sisters"--one of which fell victim to a 2003 gang-inflicted homicide.

Rarely are they reciprocated with the mutual and natural warmth, from players and fans and coaches and staff and commentators, which they exude effortlessly on-and-off court. Commentators have used up all clean racial derogatives in the English language to describe the Williams sisters; of late, "scary" and "intimidating" have taken prominence. Players are more cordial, but unwilling to challenge the racist atmosphere under which the sisters operate each time they step unto a Tennis court. Fans are a different case.

In March 2007, at the Sony Ericsson Open, Serena Williams was heckled and dehumanized by a White fan who demanded that she "hit the ball into the net like any nigger would."

Serena Williams took a pause during her sets and protested to an umpire. She described the experience as "nerve-wrecking." He said some "evil things," she later added. She asked that he be immediately "removed," never to return to any of her future matches. It was only when the match was stopped, and the cameras beamed in the direction at which she was pointing, that fans nearby ousted the culprit, signaling that they were willing to sustain his racist insults, insofar as he did not cause a scene. And, even then, the umpire seemed to be expressing doubt about the validity of her claims.

The Williams sisters have endured countless incidents like that relayed above, many of which were never reported or revealed. They have been forced to suck it in and play under conditions that no human being should ever be subjected to.

But I can never be Venus or Serena Williams. I just can't.

For all those times when fans cheered on my opponents, as incompetent as they were, simply to get under my skin, I probably would have had a hard time maintaining composure. For all those times when umpires disregarded me, and closed shut their ear-drums to my legitimate complaints, some unkind words might have flown out of my mouth. For all those times when fans jeered at me, cursed at me, hurled racial epithets to intimidate me, I would have, as Jackie Robinson similarly wished a century ago, taken up my racket and carved a dent on the forehead of my imbecilic attackers. For every time some uninformed TV and Radio commentator disconnected their lips to pass judgment on my appearance, suggest better outfits, ridicule my wardrobe, I would have written three scathing letters; one to the FCC, one to the broadcasting company involved, and one to the anchor himself/herself; all three containing disparate levels of venom--depending on individual merit.

On Saturday, a match would be played, and a winner of the Wimbledon 2009 tournaments crowned, but these two brave, audacious, bodacious sisters, regardless of the outcome, would always be winners in my book. They have carried a great burden, sacrificed their innocence, and bore insurmountable pain, just to reach the no. 1 spot.

For that, I'm thankful. For that, I'm humbled. And, for that, I am constantly reminded that courage and composure are the essential pillars that hold erect a champion. Venus and Serena Williams are the finest examples of that ilk.

For the fourth time, Venus and Serena Williams will face off in the championship finals of the historic tennis tournament in England. 

Serena Williams defeated Elena Dementieva to win on Thursday, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6. Meanwhile, two-time defending champion Venus Williams easily ousted Dinara Safina, 6-1, 6-0, in just 51 minutes of play. The New York Times called it "the most lopsided women's semifinal here in 40 years," harkening back to the day when Billie Jean King beat Rosie Casals by the same score in 1969.

The two sisters say they supported each other all the way to this point. "I wanted her to win today and she wanted me to win today," Serena told reporters after the match. (See the Associated Press video below) Now they will have to root for themselves.

Last year, Venus and Serena also played in the finals at Wimbledon. This year's final match will take place on Saturday and will air on NBC.

The concert promoter behind Jackson's scheduled "This Is It" tour has released a new video clip of the pop star performing, dancing and singing in an on-stage rehearsal, reportedly 48 hours before his death.

The video was released by AEG Live, according to the Associated Press, which reposted the clip on its YouTube page. The clip was also shown on cable network news, including MSNBC on Thursday.

With Joe, it was never the proverbial case of you love him or hate him. It was just simply hate. The line was seemingly set by Jackson in his autobiography in 1988. He lightly hinted at regrets over skipping a normal childhood, the forced march into child stardom, and of course the beatings. He minced no words in saying that he wanted to get back at Joe for the abuse.

But Jackson also admitted that his most vivid memory was of rehearsals, countless hours, spent in the studio to get the notes and the dance steps right. Joe's ferocious push to harness his son's talent and whip them into a world class act wasn't just to satisfy a father's obsessive ego, or vicarious thrills through his children, or dollar signs dancing in his eyes. To Joe, and so many other hard case black fathers of that time, saw entertainment and the stage as his son's ticket out of the ghetto; a sure fire escape for potentially at risk young black boys escape from poverty, racism, and the perils of the streets.

In an age when parenting roles were far more rigid and sharply defined, Joe's idea of being a loving, caring and responsible father was to bring home the paycheck, expect their dinner to be waiting on the table, and to be stern, tough, and no nonsense with their children, especially their sons. Joe's fierce drive paid big dividends with the Jackson's. The fame, dollars, and adulation rolled in. They boys did not do drugs, join gangs, commit any crimes, and they could not be accused of educational or professional underachievement.

Joe hit the jackpot with Michael. The fierce discipline, focus, work ethic, and business and marketing savvy that Joe drilled into Michael laid the foundation for Michael's transformation from a child R& B star into music immortal.

None of this has meant much now that Michael's gone. Joe is not just the child beating, uncaring, gold digging father, but fingers point hard at him for helping to kill Michael; that he is as much the reason for Michael's death as if he had jabbed a drug drenched needle into his heart.

In the days to come, Joe will continue to be the bad guy, the demon, the one who drove Michael to an untimely grave. The flip side of the coin which is that that Michael would not have been the Michael that the world knew and for the most part loved, if not for the demons that Joe created and exorcised. That's the Joe Jackson that we won't hear much about.

The line started forming as early as Monday at the Apollo, and by Tuesday afternoon it stretched for blocks and blocks, down Harlem's 125th Street and up Lenox Avenue, as well-wishers braved scorching temperatures and high humidity behind police barricades.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, a family friend of the Jacksons, spoke at the tribute service inside the Apollo, as did filmmaker Spike Lee. Sharpton repeated his statement made recently that Michael Jackson was not a freak but was instead a musical genius. Jackson and his brothers launched their national careers with an appearance at the Apollo Theater decades ago.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, fans gathered outside the Neverland ranch that Jackson once called home, as news stories reported that a public viewing and private service would be scheduled to take place at the ranch over the fourth of July holiday weekend.

Lawyers for Michael Jackson also revealed that a will had been discovered for the pop star, and reports indicated that Jackson designated his mother and his children as the beneficiaries of his estate. Jackson's mother Katherine had earlier won custody of the singer's three children in a temporary guardianship case in court this week.

The most emotional and perhaps classiest moment of the three-hour-plus BET Awards was at the very end of the show. A tearful Janet Jackson appeared on behalf of the Jackson family and thanked the many fans for their love and support of her brother.

Janet told the audience: "My entire family wanted to be here tonight but it was too painful. To you, Michael is an icon. To us, Michael is family and he will forever live in our hearts. On behalf of my family and myself thank you for your love and support. We miss him so much. Thank you so much."

This truly was the best moment of the show.

[More photos at Rod 2.0 on the original entry.]

Forty years after the Stonewall riots sparked the gay rights movement, President Barack Obama hosts an historic reception for LGBT activists and their families to honor LGBT Pride and the 40th Stonewall anniversary. The speech, carried live on CNN and other networks, marks the first time a sitting president has given a live televised speech on LGBT issues.

The President, who has been criticized by many LGBT rights advocates for inaction on his many campaign promises, says his Administration has made some progress on behalf of gay Americans and will do more. Full remarks AFTER THE JUMP:

"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Mr. Obama said at a reception for LGBT Pride Month at the White House. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient anymore than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago."

"But I say this: We have made progress," the president continued. "And we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps."

The list of attendees was forwarded by the White House Press Office to Rod 2.0. (Full list On Rod 2.0.) Invited guests included openly gay Administration officials such as Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry and Asst. Labor SecretaryMary Beth Maxwell. Leading LGBT advocates such as Human Rights Campaign's Joe Solmonese, and Jarrett Barrios, the new president of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

There were a number of prominent black and Latino LGBTs that should be familiar to Rod 2.0 readers: Phil Wilson, Black AIDS Institute; HRC's Donna Payne; Andre Leon Talley; Connecticut State Rep. Jason Bartlett; Denise Simmons, Mayor of Cambridge, MA;  Cornelius Baker, National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition; San Diego City Commissioner Stampp Corbin; actor Wilson Cruz; Bishop Yvette Flunder, City of Refuge United Church of Christ;  Earl Fowlkes, International Federation of Black Prides; Lupe Valdez, Dallas County Sheriff; and black Chicago lesbian leaders Mary Morten and Vernita Gray, interviewed in my Advocate cover story on Obama and Hillary Clinton.

An historic occasion and we should be mindful of the progress being made and how much further we have to go. It was also a pleasure to hear Obama allude to the black Civil Rights Movement. The occasion would have been more meaningful if there were more substantive policy initiatives to announce. The guest list was pleasantly diverse ... but very Stonewall 1.5. Online LGBT activists are leading the fight for equality and none were represented. Very out of character with the Facebook, YouTube and BlackBerry-driven White House.

On Rod 2.0, Obama's full remarks and the guest list.

[Original Entry]

"Hollywood threw acid in both your eyes before you were seven years old. You're blind, that's the first thing you realize is that you're blind. Later on, you begin to see-- something. And, then, you begin to see why you couldn't see."

--Baldwin, James. Just Above My Head. New York: Dell Publishing, 1978, p. 529.

Hollywood movies are as racist as they come. The recently released Transformers sequel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) is no different. In the last week or so, as many have approached theaters where it was being shown, the consensus has been unifying--historical Black stereotypes are evoked in this blockbuster action thriller. 

Last week, on his site, "Media Assassin" Harry Allen served up an anatomy of the film's racist features:

That Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen... is a narrative and conceptual mess is neither surprising nor the greatest of its blames....

That it endorses crude racism, however, serving up, not one, but two near-buckdancing, shiftless Black stereotypes--the sambots, as one reviewer adeptly punned, Skids... and his twin (get this), Mudflap--reveals not only how clearly insulated the white people who work at Paramount and for director Michael Bay appear to be in their racial supremacy...

The only thing they [Skids and Mudflap] don't do is shoot craps and eat chicken with watermelon. At one moment, even, LaBeouf's character asks the two if they can read a robotic script that will reveal crucial information. "Uh, we don't do too much readin'," one drawls. Nail. Coffin.

And all this--compliments of a White voice-over actor.

That Transformers 2 diligently reinforces stereotypes about Black people as lazy, barbaric, inarticulate, and anti-intellectual should be unsurprising, given the forum in which it is being presented--Hollywood. 

Hollywood's relationship with Black people has hardly changed over the years. Black folks have always been looked upon with disparagement by White movie directors, producers, and even actors. Never has the Black Community been dealt the respect it deserves from the movie industry.   

When it was time to unfold the lie that Black people were unfit for mainstream society, Hollywood was turned to for the one-two punch. Blacks were ridiculed through Minstrel shows, objectified like primates, and depicted as untamable scavengers. They were to be considered nothing but slaves--slaves without the mental capacity to adjust to a society where cotton-picking wasn't the order of the day. That was the 19^th century.

The 20^th was much worse. It was Hollywood which helped perpetuate the Black Man = White-Woman-Rapist equation that enforced the rope line as a worthy measure of vigilante justice against any Black perceived as threatening to White sexual superiority. It helped fuel the flames that roasted the backs of many Black men in the decades when miscegenation was a crime not to be committed.

The latter half of the 20^th century was Hollywood's moment to redeem itself--ostensibly. Black actors/actresses were given roles in TV movies and sitcoms, and serenaded by the wine of prosperity; but a chain of command was in effect. Almost all those movies included the same stereotypes the Transformers series bears witness to in its latest installment.

Black actors, especially, felt trapped in one-dimensional roles. They were either smart and anti-social, or unintelligent and gregarious.

Most of the sitcoms, however, reflected the same theme--poverty as an acceptable condition for Blackness. "Moving on up," for the Black Community, came to represent a volatile couple whose livelihood was as unpredictable as their marriage. "Moving on up" entailed living in a Queens apartment which lacked basic amenities. "Moving on up" was to live a life that, at the end of 10 years, could hardly be accounted for. Black families were also taught that "Good Times" suggested the privileges of single-parenthood, domestic troubles, and purse-emptying poverty.   

Hollywood contributed illimitably to the re-definition of the socio-economic conditions in which Blacks remained entrenched. By selling the narrative that Negroes would settle for anything, policies could be constructed which brushed aside the need for an urban Marshall Plan because, as had been established through TV scripts, ghetto life was like paradise on earth to Black folks.

Thus, it came as no surprise when a former First Lady said, in 2005, that Superdome-bound, Katrina-struck families were in fact living high on life, and their plight was "working well for them," for they were "underprivileged anyway."  

Even when Hollywood, responding to protests organized by the likes of Rev. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP, grudgingly hired more Black actors/actresses in productions, it successfully maintained a color code that sustained the narrative of White domination over Blacks. The lightest actors and actresses were always sought after. That way, concessions could be made over Race, but not appearance.

That Black actors/actresses were never--and still aren't--paid as equitably as their White counterparts needs no mention. It's a given.   

In a 2002 PBS documentary series, "Beyond the Color Line with Henry Louis Gates Jr.," accomplished actress Nia Long spoke to Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. about the color-centered biases in Hollywood. Light-skinned Black actors/actresses are "less threatening," she said. They are more "identifiable." Asked to explain what part identifiability plays, she explained: "I think White people can say in their minds: 'Oh, one of her parents is White; and so, you're one of us, too'. ... You're just a tad bit less threatening."

The threat factor posed by dark-skinned Black actors/actresses has never escaped the awareness of Hollywood's shot callers. This decision, to limit that count to a bare minimum, has rendered epic consequences on the psyche of many dark-skinned Black children, who hardly see accurate reflections of themselves on TV screens. If at all, the dark-skinned actors/actresses are mostly foot soldiers for, or subordinates of, their fairer counterparts, thereby confirming the obvious--whiteness exudes intelligence; Blackness doesn't.   

Hollywood is no friend of the Black Community. Never has been. In this new era when a Black family has taken prominence on the world stage, the hostility level is only guaranteed to increase. The Obamas' rise is a direct refutation of historically advanced conceptions about Black genetic inferiority. For this reason, the blowback Hollywood must muster is only logical. The movie industry's power brokers very well understand that suggestions matter. The power of suggestion can destroy and rebuild.   

The suggestions Obama's victory last November brought to bear are of limitless proportions. His win over Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain signaled the first time a Black man has ever been publicly triumphant in that fight. It opened up visual avenues Black children had been blinded to for so long.   

Hollywood isn't unaware of this reality. As such, Transformers 2 came right on cue. Many Hollywood directors are unprepared to concede that Black Men and Women are capable of intellectual sophistication or oratorical competence. Transformers 2 is simply that--blowback. It wouldn't be the last, and it certainly isn't the first of its kind.     

What we can do, is fight with the one weapon legally deployable--our Dollars. We can resist these vile stereotypes which have been used to debase and demoralize us for centuries. We can say "NO," once and for all, to misrepresentations about our culture and heritage. We can draw a final line in the sand, refusing to patronize this industry which has so ruthlessly attacked every sense of dignity and integrity we hold dearly. We must, then, begin building structures that speak accurately and reflectively of who we be. We must also inform Black actors/actresses that the era of cooning is over. We must stand firm in our demands for dignified Black artistry on the movie screen. Anything less would be shortchanging.