Now that we are sure that Elin and her children will still sleep on their silver lined pillows tonight, I wish to comment on something that I saw only mildly touched upon. I think only Jilian Reynolds had the balls (or maybe it was pregnancy hormones) to say what many people were thinking as they looked at the rogues gallery of his skanks. A universal sentiment of “Wow, was that really the best he could do?”
Before you read any further, let me preface this body of opinion by saying that I have for a huge potion of my life dated outside my race and caught massive flack for it. I believe wholeheartedly in love no matter what the race, class or gender-and I salute those who have found love everlasting. The piece below is commenting solely upon the superficial premise that seems to be a common thread running through some relationships and this is my take on that.
I have followed Tiger Woods ever since the advent of his career. As a female and an African American, I am always curious when a person of color is in the spotlight. For years I wondered about Tigers social life, as his parents did everything they could to distance him from being labeled “of color.” As a matter of fact, it was fine to refer to him as being “of color” until he actually made it into professional golf. It seems like being “of color ” was a plus, in addition to his amazing talent, in breaking barriers and having people care who he was. Lets be honest, even with him being so young and ridiculously good, would we really have cared if he was another White kid who just happened to play golf really well? Would we almost have expected it?
When his romance with Elin became public, I cant really say I was surprised. Elin is the physical ideal for most of White America-so you can imagine what that would have meant for someone like Tiger Woods. I will say what no one else really wants to say. Elin was Tiger’s ultimate trophy-forget the Masters. It’s the same story written time after time by many famous males of color. Once the money comes, soon after comes the White woman which I guess validates their success within society.
I guess marrying Elin wasn’t enough and Tiger had to embrace every type of white woman. Boy, oh boy did he make some questionable choices. Believe it or not, there was a section of me when the story first broke that hoped he had cheated with a Halle Berry look alike -or just anyone Black. If he had, that would have made sense to me, as he would have been chasing what he didn’t have at home. Boy was I disappointed. My favorite of the skeezers and the only justifiable person is the first one to surface, Jaimee Grubbs. The rest look like her weaker clones and towards the end I was like “WTF?!” It looked like he didn’t even care what they looked like as long as they had a hole and a heartbeat. You would figure that with him being Tiger Woods, his playpals would be a little better.
You might be asking as you read this- What difference does it make? And shouldn’t we be allowed to touch who we want to touch? The answer is simple-yes, as Americans, we do what we want with who we want. But if our life is in the spotlight everything we do opens that action up to a judgment call. I look at Tiger Woods and Lamar Odom and many of our famous Men of Color and wonder do they ever ponder on the message they send to little girls of color, who’s hair isn’t straight or their eyes aren’t green or their skin not tan enough. Are your own people not good enough for you to love? I have a friend who always asks his mixed race friends (who are black & other) who chose not to date people of color if their don’t think their own parents are beautiful.
When I first read about Halle Berry deciding to pursue a relationship with Gabriel Aubrey and even conceive a child, Nahla, with him, it was actually refreshing. There is starting to be this tide turning and I am glad that women of color are breaking out of their boxes and expanding their comfort zone also. I find it funny though that there were people who are still upset with these decisions and almost have a double standard when it comes to women of color dating outside their race. I guess what’s good for the goose is good for the gander…..Double props cause Gabriel is a model (a hot one!) and last I checked Halle wasn’t out chasing anyone else. Know when to hold them Girl!
I opened up my In Touch Weekly, which finally didn’t have a Tiger story featured prominently on the cover and glanced at Tigers prom picture: I giggled a little when there a story which featured his date, a sad looking little white girl, telling how he broke her heart. My head is still shaking. Some people never learn.
