{"id":27911,"date":"2016-09-28T18:27:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T18:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=27911"},"modified":"2016-09-28T18:27:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T18:27:58","slug":"serena-williams-vows-no-silence-on-social-injustice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=27911","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams vows no ‘silence’ on social injustice"},"content":{"rendered":"
LOS ANGELES, Sept 28, 2016 (BSS\/AFP) – Serena Williams vowed she would not be “silent” on issues of social injustice Tuesday as she reflected on the recent deaths of African-American men at the hands of law enforcement.<\/h6>\n

In a h\"serena-williams-roar\"eartfelt post on her Facebook page, the tennis superstar said she felt moved to speak out after being unnerved at the sight of a police officer while being driven by her 18-year-old nephew.<\/p>\n

“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,” the former world number-one wrote.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“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',” Williams added.<\/p>\n

The United States has been gripped by a spike in racial tensions in the past week after the latest killings of black men by police.<\/p>\n

The deaths, in Oklahoma and North Carolina, were the latest in a series of incidents over the past two years that have brought issues of police brutality and racism to the forefront of national debate.<\/p>\n

Williams said her reaction had left her determined to speak out.<\/p>\n

“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,” she wrote.<\/p>\n

“I than wondered than have I spoken up? I had to take a look at me. What about my nephews? What if I have a son and what about my daughters? As Dr. Martin Luther King said ‘There comes a time when silence is betrayal'. I won't be silent.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, Sept 28, 2016 (BSS\/AFP) – Serena Williams vowed she would not be “silent” on issues of social injustice Tuesday as she reflected on the recent deaths of African-American men at the hands of law enforcement. In a heartfelt post on her Facebook page, the tennis superstar said she felt moved to speak out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,44,2,5,14],"tags":[96],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\t\n