On August 11,
2016 at the ongoing Rio Olympic, a well accomplished but little known
African-American swimmer by name Simone Manuel took the world by surprise when
she won the Women’s 100m Freestyle setting an Olympic record in the process
sharing the honor with Canadian Penny Oleksiak. This
international accomplishment made Princess Simone Manuel the first
African-American female swimmer to achieve such a feat!
Without an iota
of doubt, this unprecedented victory has effectively put to rest and finally
tear down the #BerlinWall of the racism that have perpetuated the game of
swimming in the United States of America. It is therefore no longer a viable
argument that Blacks cannot swim, on the contrary, her victory vehemently and
pragmatically put to an end the systemic orchestration of turning away
African-Americans from continuing to contribute to the advancement of the
country.
For a moment let’s
just imagine there was no Simone Manuel among the Women 100m Freestyle on this
fateful day; the United States of America could not have won gold! The implications
are simple; when giving the opportunity and support, there are millions of “others”
who are ready to outshine the status quo.
The lessons of
this monumental victory are numerous and beyond mere expression, nevertheless
it suffices to mention but a few:
(1) As a candle illuminating another candle
does not diminishes your light! Consequently, there must be the audacious
articulations to become inclusive and help bring about greater diversity and
opportunity for all, because the gold medalist might be another outlier like
Simone Manuel
(2) Our generation must challenge ourselves
to stop teaching the young generation detrimental attitudes such as racism and
ignorance of the necessity of empathy! It was very difficult for Princess
Simone Manuel to thrive as a swimmer simply because of the color of her skin!
That must change and this change must begin with me, then you and finally
others too.
(3) It is about time we stop pretending that
we are not racists nor dogmatic in the manner we treat people that does not
look like us. However, what we can do to ameliorate the negativity of discrimination is to focus on the prowess that originates from diversity. We
cannot begin to assume that God is foolish to have created humanity with varieties
of color, shape and height! Can you imagine a world where everything looks the
same?
Princess Simone
Manuel is the “Turning Point” that we have all been searching for in this
country and my hope and expectations are that given what she has accomplished
under duress, as a nation and as a people it is about time we tear down the
ugly walls of racism, hatred and other forms of discrimination that denigrate
humanity and deprive individuals opportunity to showcase their talents.
Finally the
#BerlinWall(Racism) in the America swimming federation is crumbling, tumbling and
crashing down and thanks to Simone Manuel for being the instrument of the
change we have all been waiting for!
Rio2016 is yet
another Olympic that helps draw humanity closer to the idealism of unity in
diversity and I am happy to be a witness to such a monumental moment, which
kind of reminds me of the presidency of President Barack Obama in the political
spectrum, and the much anticipated possibility of a female presidency in the
United States of America!
Podeh2016
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