As most of the world knows, Tiger Woods has been in the news of late due to his exploits off the golf course, not on. What interests me most about this are the myriad of racial implications to the coverage of this relatively common story of a famous person who cheats on his wife. And we care why? Or why anymore than anyone else who cheats?
But the race part is important since Woods, who is of mixed African American, Asian, and white heritage, has dug a complicated hole for himself by distancing himself from the Black community for years and aligning himself with a white community that he should have known would turn on him on a dime -- and did. The white majority transformed his image from a nice guy sports hero to Black sexual savage faster than you can say "Cablinasian." And the black community, for the most part, has not had his back, for good reason.
Case in point: This month's Vanity Fair's already infamous cover features a "raw" (their words) Tiger Woods looking like a thug with a freshly cut cell block body minus the tattoos. Our Mr. Clean golf hero is gone gone gone.
RaceWire has a brief, interesting post about the cover shot and its implications. The post simply says:
"So folks, what do you say? The photographer, Annie Leibovitz, should be well known to RaceWire readers as a shameless provocateur, with questionable race politics. We know Leibovitz’s track record. We know the cultural context of this moment in Tiger Woods’s life and career. What say you about this latest image?"I find the comments interesting. For example:
"Dunno if it's intentional, but I think this serves as a brilliant illustration of how public perception of Tiger has shifted from 'nonthreatening Asian/mixed-race American success story' to 'sex-crazed Black professional athlete' over the course of a single scandal..."My take -- don't deny who you are. It will bite you in the ass eventually.
What do you think?
Related links:
The Root: Goodbye, 'Cablinasian', and Congrats Tiger, you got the race neutral response you always wanted.
Racialicious: Revisitng "100% Cablinasian": 6 Thoughts on Tiger Woods
Nketlk: Tiger woods got the OJ treatment
The Daily Voice: Tiger stereotypes Tiger, and black males too
PostBourgie: Eyes on the Tiger
Womanist Musings: Vanity Fair: Tiger Woods the Thug
Ann, this is Julie Eng. I am writing because I don't think this is as simple as white folks piling on a black man first chance they get.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that you're initial point is wondering why we should care about the cheating, is it fair that something in his personal life is getting this much play and having this kind of impact on his career? Afterall, it's just cheating. But should he really get a pass? Human failings are that, human failings, and there-but-for-grace-of-whatever-go-I, but let's not overlook what this behavior says about this person, and how he treats the women in his life, the ones he pays and the ones he doesn't.
As for not calling himself "black", he may have been trying to live a "post-racial" life when all the world sees is "black," but why shouldn't he be allowed to say that "black (and the definition of black that the white worlds put on it) is not the whole of who I am"? Just because he said, "let's not discount the full panoply of who I am" doesn't mean he was ashamed of his blackness, does it? Do I care that more of the human population than not wants me dead because I'm gay? No I do not. I'm not going to live my life by the constraints of others, the way I'm defined by the larger world, why should he? (That's not to say that I haven't been disappointed when he has refused to take opportunities to call out the racism he has encountered. Think of the fried chicken comment, lynching comment.
As for his sexual politics, I don't have a problem with all the consenting shenangins he wants to engage in. But then be honest. Don't get married to someone who has been given a different set of expectations. (I guess I'm ruling out the possibility that they had an open relationship, but if they did, then she is mad about something else. Right.)
Are there people more willing to turn on him now because he's black? Yes. But, Tiger didn't sit for the photo last week -they were taken years ago. And, he may have done it because he WANTED to put more edge to his public persona. (It is no coincidence, however, that VF is using it now to exploit the situation. On top of the fact that Annie L. has been flirting with bankruptcy for awhile now, she has a keen monetary interest in the opportunistic selling of her negs.)
But, does someone really think that his image WOULDN"T change after something like this? He's not just "black" and a golfer and hugely rich and all those things, he is considered by many to be the best athlete of our times.
Think about Charles Barkley. A year ago, he runs a stop sign, has a prostitute in his car, gets a DUI, T-Mobile stops running his ads for two months, he took a two month hiatus from TNT broadcasting the NBA, but then, he's back, nobody cares. In fact, nobody hardly talked about it even at the time. I was offended that he was back so soon. I suppose he doesn't talk about running for governor as much as he used to, but this was water off a duck's back. Last time I checked, he's black. And he's a pretty big deal in NBA circles. But he's no Tiger Woods. He's no Michael Jordan. In fact, Charles Barkley's image has always been that of a bad boy. And, so, the story went silently into the night. Not really that out of character, I suppose was the thinking.
I don't know. It's just not so simple as this is a black man getting piled on because he built a complicated hole for himself by distancing himself from the black community. Is it? And now those whites that embraced him are turning on him on a dime, because he's black? Yes, some are. I won't deny that. We all know that the messages about welfare moms are built on racism; the Tea Party movement and birthers are thinly disguised KKK gangs as far as I'm concerned. But Tiger? He deserves whatever he gets.
Wow! GREAT comments Julie! I don't know if I am more excited that you took the time to write a really thoughtful response or that your response is so thoughtful! Great analysis of the situation and you certainly effectively take my (overly simplistic) post to task. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI will say this -- I know many people who are multiracial who embrace all of who they are with equal measures of love and respect even as they define themselves in new ways. (Obama is probably the most public example we have ever seen of this). Tiger, to me, has always seemed to want to be less black, not more whole, through his mulitracial politics. I think there is a world of difference.
You may be very right about that, that downplaying his blackness was ultimately about being less whole. I guess he was downplaying a lot of who he really is. In the words of Ms. Tangye "still yuck."
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