LOS ANGELES—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 after being unnerved at the sight of a police officer while being driven by her 18-year-old nephew.
“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.
“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’,” Williams added.
Serena Williams . AP File Photo
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.
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.
READ: People protest worldwide, decry police shootings of blacks
Williams said her reaction had left her determined to speak out.
“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.
READ: NFL: Kaepernick’s controversial protest puts QB on cover of Time
“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.”