Serena Williams Adds Her Voice To The Conversation About Race and the Police

Serena Williams is using her platform to take a stand. and get involved in the Black Lives Matter movement. On Tuesday Serena took to her FaceBook page to recount an incident that happened to her and her nephew while driving to a business meeting.

Today I asked my 18 year old nephew (to be clear he’s black) to drive me to my meetings so I can work on my phone #safteyfirst. In the distance I saw cop on the side of the road. I quickly checked to see if he was obliging by the speed limit. Than I remembered that horrible video of the woman in the car when a cop shot her boyfriend. All of this went through my mind in a matter of seconds. I even regretted not driving myself. I would never forgive myself if something happened to my nephew. He’s so innocent. So were all “the others”
I am a total believer that not “everyone” is bad It is just the ones that are ignorant, afraid, uneducated, and insensitive that is affecting millions and millions of lives.
Why did I have to think about this in 2016? Have we not gone through enough, opened so many doors, impacted billions of lives? But I realized we must stride on- for it’s not how far we have come but how much further still we have to go.

The incident Serena was referring to involved motorist Philando Castile, who was shot after being pulled over in Minnesota. The aftermath was caught on video by Castile’s girlfriend while their young child was in the car. His girlfriend said the police shot Castile as he was putting his hands up.

Williams also referenced other police shootings and acknowledged the “all lives matter” counter-movement.

“I am a total believer that not ‘everyone’ is bad,” Williams said. “It is just the ones that are ignorant, afraid, uneducated, and insensitive that is affecting millions and millions of lives.”

Williams ended her post with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal”.

In the weeks since San Francisco 49’ers QB Colin Kaepernick began his silent protest, there have been a number of high-profile fatalities involving police and black men. On Sept. 20, two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers shot and killed Kenneth Lamont Scott. The claim being that he was armed and had drug paraphernalia when they opened fire.

Which caused the city to erupted into protests until the police department released dashcam and bodycam video from the shooting. On Sept. 16th, Tulsa OfficerBetty Shelby fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher, who was unarmed and seen on video footage walking away from Shelby. Shelby has since been charged with manslaughter.

Over the summer several nationwide number of protests kicked off following the incident in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when officers responding to a convenience store altercation shot and killed Alton Sterling. According to video from that shooting, Sterling was pinned to the ground at the time of the shooting.

Williams has been on the receiving end of racist and sexist comments for her entire career.

photo via @SerenaWilliams