Serena Williams on racism and gender equality
Serena Williams has guest edited Wired’s Trailblazers issue, which celebrated “trailblazers” in racial and gender discrimination issues.
Among those being celebrated included Black Lives Matter founder DeRay Mckesson, and mixed martial arts champion, Ronda Rousey.
Serena wrote in part:
“Here’s one of the affirmations I gave myself when I was younger: “I will work in Africa and help kids and help people.” And I did. I opened a school in Kenya in 2008 and a second in 2010. Now, sometimes in Africa they send only the boys to school. So we had a strict rule that our schools had to be at least 40 percent girls. It was impossible to get 50-50 boys to girls, and we really had to fight for 60-40. But we got it.”
“But we need to see more women and people of different colors and nationalities in tech. That’s the reason I wanted to do this issue with WIRED—I’m a black woman, and I am in a sport that wasn’t really meant for black people. And while tennis isn’t really about the future, Silicon Valley sure is.