Speaker 1: Hey y'all, this is Dr Joy from the Therapy for
Speaker 1: Black Girls podcast, and this it's a booster session. As
Speaker 1: a reminder, the information included is meant to be educational
Speaker 1: and entertaining, but it is not a substitute for a
Speaker 1: relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey y'all, it's
Speaker 1: Dr Joy and I had to drop in because I
Speaker 1: have some strong feelings about what we saw yesterday at
Speaker 1: the US Open. I missed it in real time because
Speaker 1: I was asleep, but I awoke from my nap to
Speaker 1: see my Twitter timeline in a complete uproar about Serena
Speaker 1: losing the match. So apparently, the umpire says she was
Speaker 1: cheating and took a point away from her which resulted
Speaker 1: in her losing the match, and Serena, of course is
Speaker 1: rightfully upset because this is high stakes and she's not
Speaker 1: a cheater, and she tells him so apparent. Men in
Speaker 1: the sport have done much worse and have not been
Speaker 1: penalized for it, but of course Serena is so. Not
Speaker 1: only is this an awful loss for Serena, it's also
Speaker 1: a less than ideal way for our young sister, Naomi
Speaker 1: Osaka to win her first title what we saw yesterday
Speaker 1: was the personification of our parents, always telling us you
Speaker 1: have to be twice as good to get half the respect,
Speaker 1: something that is not even an issue when other people do.
Speaker 1: It is magnified when it happens with black women. And
Speaker 1: let's be clear, this wasn't just about this one call,
Speaker 1: though for a competitor like Serena, of course it was
Speaker 1: a big deal. This was about the repeated drug tests,
Speaker 1: about her not being taken seriously in the hospital, about
Speaker 1: her being told she can't wear her jumpsuit, about the
Speaker 1: constant attacks on her body and her performance, and it
Speaker 1: was just enough. She had had enough. She's exhausted in
Speaker 1: much the same ways that so many of us are
Speaker 1: exhausted by things we have no control over. People wanting
Speaker 1: to touch our hair, people making comments about how well
Speaker 1: we speak, questioning who we are to be in the
Speaker 1: positions were in, being micromanaged in the workplace, Fearing for
Speaker 1: our lives anytime police are in the area, wondering if
Speaker 1: someone on our bus is going to do or say
Speaker 1: something to hurt or offend us. This constant state of
Speaker 1: having to be on guard and protect ourselves is overwhelming,
Speaker 1: and it's just plain exhausting. Just a quick glance through
Speaker 1: the timeline and you can see how many women could
Speaker 1: identify with exactly what Serena was feeling. And it made
Speaker 1: me wonder, what was your first US open moment? Do
Speaker 1: you remember the first time it was obvious to you
Speaker 1: that even though you do or if something, you might
Speaker 1: not get it, or that you were being treated differently
Speaker 1: just because you were a black woman. Mine was my
Speaker 1: senior year of high school. It was the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks of school, and I was said to be
Speaker 1: the valedictorian of our class. My English teacher asked me
Speaker 1: to stay after class one day and he tells me
Speaker 1: that one of my white classmates is very close to
Speaker 1: having a matching g P A, and all she needs
Speaker 1: is an A in his class and we would be
Speaker 1: co valedictorians. So if she makes an A on the
Speaker 1: final he would give her an A in the class,
Speaker 1: even though she had not rightfully earned an A. Y'all,
Speaker 1: I was livid. I had worked my tail off for
Speaker 1: years to have good grades, and in that moment it
Speaker 1: all felt like it had been for nothing. But in
Speaker 1: that moment, I also realized that this is how the
Speaker 1: world was set up now, she didn't make the A
Speaker 1: and the class, so we weren't co valedictorians, but it
Speaker 1: still felt like something that should not have even been
Speaker 1: on the table. And I have to be honest with y'all.
Speaker 1: I struggled about whether I would even record this booster
Speaker 1: for you today, because typically I like to leave you
Speaker 1: with some tips or some sort of resolution, but I
Speaker 1: realized that it's also important for me to make space
Speaker 1: for us to just be upset and disgusted. So what
Speaker 1: was your first US open moment or what's your recent
Speaker 1: moment if you can't remember the first? Shared with us
Speaker 1: using the hashtag tv G in session, and let's keep
Speaker 1: this conversation going. I'll be back on Wednesday with your
Speaker 1: full episode, but until then, take care of yourself. Wanted
Speaker 1: to p