We see you, hermana-- at all of your powerful intersections! The white racial framing of Serena Williams Latinx Talk / February 5, 2019 Retrieved from https://latinxtalk.org/2019/02/05/we-see-you-hermana-at-all-of-your-powerful- intersections-the-white-facial-framing-of-serena-williams/ Rachel F. Gomez, PhD Michelle Rascon-Canales Andrea Romero, PhD This article arose from a discussion among Latinx scholars, disillusioned by the treatment and reaction to superstar-tennis-champion, mother and Black woman, Serena Williams, at the U.S. Open on September 8, 2018. It was clear to us that this performance of white racial framing (WRF) (Feagin, 2010) on Serena at this momentous point in the women's’ championship match was exacerbated by her intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) as a Black woman, and as a mother. Because of Williams’ multiple intersections, we offer a counter-narrative to the popular one that went viral on social media -- the trope of the angry black woman trope, waving her finger in dissidence -- by highlighting William’s motherhood at the axis of oppression and the ways Williams defies existing tropes of motherhood. White Racial Framing According to Feagin (2010), the white racial frame (WRF) is an analytical tool to better understand the interlocking ideas that help uphold racism and discrimination – images, sounds, stereotypes, etc. are central and interlinking with justifying racism and discrimination. The WRF is deep, pervasive and encompasses numerous sub-frames. There are two major subframes within the WRF: 1) virtuous whiteness sub frame and 2) negative stereotyping of people of color subframes (p. 126). The first sub frame is a pro-white sensibility in which white people view and understand themselves to be “good and decent folk,” unconscious of any actual racist behavior enacted by oneself or by others in one’s white community. As an operative in this subframe, white folk own a strong sense of personal and group entitlement to what they have, with a fundamental assumption that this is fair— “while willfully ignoring (intentionally forgetting, remaining ‘invincibly ignorant’ of) the horrific and ongoing injustices that, in fact, produce these things” (Feagin, 2010, p. 147). The belief that in the U.S. we live in a post-racial order where discussions of race are moot, reinforces the virtuous white subframe by removing white racism from discussion or consideration. Feagin identifies the WRF as having emerged in the U.S. by 1700 (Feagin, 2013, p. 55) and has been in circulation ever since. The second major subframe within this WRF is the negative stereotyping of people of color subframe. Racial stereotypes are important structural pieces of the WRF. They are widely held, somewhat fixed and essentialized beliefs about various racial groups. Negative racial stereotyping of people of color works within the contemporary WRF by promoting what to believe about various groups of people of color. This includes, within it, various anti-people of