"Get a Grip, Girlfriend..."

You know, I stared at this picture a looong time before I could even bring myself to formulate an opinion.

Perhaps a week earlier, before I'd witnessed the pageantry of a Maasai Moran rite of passage, I might have just dismissed Venus Williams' French Open outfit as straight up tacky and completely unredeemable. I would have argued that no African American mother with good sense and more than a passing acquaintance with the Lord would sanction her daughter going out in public with her lacy drawers showing. I would have said it was inappropriate, completely devoid of class, and just plain ig'nint to wear something like this in a professional setting of any kind...unless there is a stripper pole or a red light in the vicinity.

But then I remembered that there's something in the African DNA that seems to lead many of us toward the colorful, the daring, and the flashy when it comes to fashion. I've lived in East Africa 3 years now, and traveled to 8 African countries so far, so I know that we tend to favor bright colors, fabric flourishes, and body-skimming creations. And I also know that most African women wear the hell out of those creations, and make their counterparts of European and Asian and Hispanic and any other descent look like timid nuns while they're doing it.

I've followed the Williams sisters since their careers began, and I've raved over their successes, and chastised them when they've "showed out," as my mama used to say. I've also frequently sided with them against what I believed were racist penalties and accusations. And when people have called them ugly and mannish merely because they are beautifully brown and superbly muscular, I've rushed to their defense. I KNOW what it's like to be dismissed and disregarded because of the color of your skin, no matter how much you've achieved. America simply still isn't ready to acknowledge the beauty of a dark-skinned woman of African descent, as is clearly demonstrated by some of the negative perceptions of Michelle Obama.

So I took all these things into consideration while staring at this photo of Venus Williams at the French Open. Sadly, I simply could not stifle the voice of Eloise Jones bellowing in the recesses of my mind. And here's what she was shouting:

"That child's outfit is outfit is straight-up tacky and completely unredeemable! No African American mother with good sense and more than a passing acquaintance with the Lord would sanction her daughter going out in public with her lacy drawers showing. That outfit is inappropriate, completely devoid of class, and it's just plain ig'nint to wear something like that in a professional setting of any kind....unless there is a stripper pole or a red light in the vicinity."

So it seems my first instinct was spot on, regardless of my deepening connection with my African aesthetic sensibilities! Venus, girlfriend, when it comes to fashion, you need to get a grip on more than that tennis racket.