Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Follow the money: Minority vendors raise questions about government advertising spending

    By Stacy M. Brown (NNPA News Wire
    Contributing Writer)

    NNPA President Ben Chavis addresses Capitol Hill press conference

    NNPA President Ben Chavis addresses Capitol Hill
    press conference (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)

    The federal government spends about $1 billion on advertising services, but history continues to show that small businesses and local and minority-owned media companies are mostly left out. On Wednesday, March 23, as part of its ongoing series on Supplier Diversity, the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities hosted a roundtable discussion on diversity and government advertising practices. Moderated by Thomas Reed, the director of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities, the event also included commentary from James Winston, the president of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Melody Spann Cooper, Steve Roberts, Sherman Kizart, and other experts from the broadcasting industry who examined the federal government’s interaction with diverse communities and how current advertising practices reach those same communities.
    “We wanted to have a more laser-like focus on federal advertising. The congressional research service has found in recent years the federal government spends close to $1 billion annually on advertising services,” Reed said in opening the roundtable discussion.
    “The focus of the meeting is an examination of how, where, and in many instances, why this money, these dollars, are being spent and how we might begin to expand the pool of vendors who assist the government and getting out the message,” he said.
    While public documents reveal who is spending the money, they don’t always reveal who is on the receiving end of those contracts, Reed added. “Experience tells us that local media, small companies, women and minority-owned media are not well-represented,” he said.
    The meeting was viewed as a critical beginning step in minority-owned media being considered when the federal government and its agencies seek to advertise.
    Earlier this month, leaders from the National Newspaper Publishers Association and the National Association of Hispanic Publications – which combined publish more than 600 newspapers to over 30 million readers – were joined by D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton in calling for an examination of government advertising practices.
    It’s widely understood that government advertising covers a variety of subjects, Reed said, noting public service announcements, federal job openings, competition for federal contracts, and even the sale of surplus government property.
    He said federal agencies use numerous platforms to educate the public about their core services including using television, radio, and now, increasingly, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. However, the lack of advertising by federal agencies in Black media can be felt in radio as well, Winston said.
    “We find ourselves very challenged to maintain the success of our existing stations. Your success depends on getting advertising dollars and, in 2012, the Congressional Research Service did a report that at the time showed that the federal government agencies were spending about $500 million a year on commercial advertising,” Winston said. “That number is now closer to $1 billion and the report showed that the largest commercial advertiser in the federal government is the Department of Defense. And, so we’ve found that a great deal of money is being spent but there’s very little information about where that money is going.”
    Winston added: “The agencies pretty much do the same thing, they all have major contracts with one huge advertising agency, usually a ‘Madison Avenue’ advertising agency.”
    Kenyata Wesley, who represented the Department of Defense during the discussion, said she attended to help explain the procurement process and to help minority media members to better navigate the acquisition process.“We do have a very robust media program, about $300 million spent in the media community,” Wesley said. “Hopefully, we can walk away with solutions.”
    Chanel Bankston-Carter, the director for the Department of Veterans Affairs, said her agency is committed to working with veteran-owned and small businesses, and they’re looking at opportunities for procurement. She said the roundtable is “Truly an opportunity to share ideas, strategies and come together to develop a partnership that will benefit the small business community.”
    “My sole purpose is to work on procurement opportunities for the small business community,” Bankston-Carter said, noting that the Veterans Affairs is the only federal agency that has a verification program. “There are times advertising has opportunities to be more diverse and we do have a lot of opportunity for marketing and advertising and we do use that. So, I would just love to say that we are open.”
    During the conference, Reed reiterated the purpose of the sit down.“It’s not to indict, but to gain a better understanding of the process, why federal advertising dollars are not more broadly spent and how women and minority-owned media companies can improve government advertising to underserved communities,” he said.
    The conference was held just two weeks after Norton joined the call for more accountability in government advertising spending with minority-owned publications. “I’m requesting a report from an objective arm of the federal government, the GAO. We’re asking them to conduct a study of the federal agencies whose outreach is to people of color,” said Norton on Friday, March 11.
    “We don’t want our federal agencies to forego their mandate and responsibilities. There is a mandate to engage small businesses. We want to discuss if that is, in fact, taking place. There’s no more authentic or trusted way to do so than to engage the Black and Hispanic Press.”Norton and the accompanying Black and Latino publishers said no one can accurately pinpoint a dollar figure of what the federal government spends.“We have no sense of the numbers,” Norton said. “If you don’t even know what they do, you can’t know what they spend. We want to know how much they spend and with which press. We don’t even know if they have a strategy.”

  • Racial split defines MD.’s hotly contested Democratic Senate primary

    By Rachel Weiner and Scott Clement , Washington Post

    Edwards and Van Hollend

    Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen

    Maryland’s Democratic Senate race remains very much up for grabs three weeks before the primary, with voters sharply divided along racial lines, according to a new poll from The Washington Post and the University of Maryland. The rare open Senate seat, being vacated by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D) after 30 years, has sparked a heated and expensive battle between Reps. Donna F. Edwards and Chris Van Hollen. Edwards is trying to appeal to voters by emphasizing her inspiring personal story as a black single mother with an activist history. Her rival has responded with a bunch of endorsements from public office¬holders and a relentless focus on his legislative record.
    Faced with that choice, African American and white voters appear deeply split. Among all likely Democratic primary voters, Edwards leads Van Hollen by a statistically insignificant 44 percent to 40 percent. But likely black voters favor Edwards by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio. More than twice as many white voters support Van Hollen as back Edwards.
    While Edwards also leads among women, that split has racial underpinnings as well, according to the survey, which was conducted in partnership with U-Md.’s Center for American Politics and Citizenship. Van Hollen leads by 23 percentage points among white women. But that preference is quickly erased by Edwards’s 51-point lead with black women, many of whom seem drawn by her argument that she is best suited to understand their needs and fight for those needs in an overwhelmingly white, mostly male U.S. Senate.
    “Women get short¬changed a lot,” said Edwards supporter Jacqui Battle, 59, a black mother of two in Prince George’s County. “It means a lot that she’s where she is, at the level she is, in her career.”
    Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) and several other black elected officials from Edwards’s home county have endorsed Van Hollen — an advantage he touts at every opportunity. But Edwards still leads in Prince George’s by 59 points. (Van Hollen is nearly as highly favored in his home of Montgomery County.)
    And despite extensive television ad campaigns and scores of visits and appearances, neither candidate holds a clear advantage in the Baltimore area, encompassing both the largely African American city and the whiter surrounding suburbs.
    Both Edwards and Van Hollen frequently invoke Mikulski, a revered figure both nationally and locally, and the first female Democrat elected to the Senate in her own right.
    Edwards notes that she, too, would make history as Maryland’s first black senator and the second female black senator. Van Hollen argues that he, like Mikulski, is a constituent-oriented and savvy politician.

  • Alabama legislators consider impeachment of Gov. Bentley

    By: Ed Cason, AL.com

    Gov. Robert Bentley

    Gov. Robert Bentley

    State Rep. Ed Henry, following through on plans he announced last week, outlined articles of impeachment he will introduce against Gov. Robert Bentley. The governor said he would vigorously defend himself against a move he called a “political attack.”
    Henry, a Republican from Hartselle, was joined at a news conference today by Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, minority leader in the House, and Reps. Mike Ball, R-Madison and David Standridge, R-Hayden. The five-page resolution charges Bentley with willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, incompetency and offenses of moral turpitude.
    “We’re looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama through actions and lies that have caused us to have some doubt about his leadership,” Henry said. “And as such, the only course the people of Alabama have to address this issue is through the impeachment process.”
    Henry said he would not seek a vote on the resolution today but hoped for a vote next week.If the House approves the resolution, it would refer the charges to the Senate, which would hold a trial on whether to remove the governor from office.
    Bentley has come under fire after the release of audio tapes of his sexually suggestive comments to former senior political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who resigned last week.
    The governor says he has no plans to resign and has done nothing to warrant removal from office. Bentley released a statement this afternoon saying he would vigorously defend himself and there are no grounds for impeachment. He called today’s press confererence “political grandstanding.”
    “There is a lot of work to do before I end my term in office in 2019,” Bentley said. “I have laid out a strategic plan for success, and I will continue to focus my efforts on making Alabama a great state.”That is what the people of Alabama overwhelmingly elected and re-elected me to do. I will continue to work hard for them every day.”
    It’s unclear how much support there is for the impeachment resolution and whether it has time to be resolved with 12 meeting days left in the legislative session.
    Rep. Mac McCutcheon, chairman of the Rules Committee, told the Associated Press that Henry’s impeachment resolution would be accompanied by a resolution establishing an investigatory commission, which would examine if there are grounds for impeachment.
    Rep. Ford, minority leader in the House, said the impeachment resolution was not a partisan issue. “This is not about the governor’s personal conduct. This is about the allegations against him, including that he obstructed justice within the Alabama state law enforcement agency,” Ford said.
    “We believe there is enough probable cause to warrant asking the state Senate to try this case, and if guilty, remove the governor from office.”
    Former state Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier has accused Bentley of telling him to lie to the attorney general’s office about the status of an investigation. Collier made allegations about Bentley on the same day the governor fired him. The governor said he has not told any employees or cabinet members to lie.
    At today’s news conference, Ball said the impeachment resolution was an effort to use one of the checks and balances of governments to resolve a “crisis of confidence.

  • Supreme Court blocks challenge to ‘one person, one vote’ in key voting rights case

    Written By Desire Thompson, NBC News

    The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that districts will continue to use total population instead of voter population to determine legislative redistricting in Texas, maintaining fair voting rights for the state’s large Latino population. According to NBC News, the decision was made Monday after Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger argued that only eligible voters should be counted, which can harm large urban communities consisting of non-voters and children, but benefit large districts with conservative and rural voters.
    The ruling, signed with an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was supported by Justices John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas concurred but drew their own notes on the ‘one person, one vote’ law.
    “In a concurring opinion, one of the Supreme Court’s conservatives, Justice Alito, said Monday’s decision holds only that states are not required to count total population. The ruling does not bar states from instead counting the voting population, which he called “an important and sensitive question that we can consider if and when” such a case comes before the court.”
    The historic “one person, one vote” view has been seen as a clear way to treat voters equally across districts. If the argument was supported, large states like Texas, New York, California, New Jersey, Arizona and Nevada would have seen the largest changes in voting rights.
    The ruling is also a win for liberals who have supported total population voting. Ginsburg explained that those not eligible to vote need representation and the 14th amendment is permitted as a foundation for drawing districts.
    “Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates—children, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system—and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies,” Ginsburg wrote, “By ensuring that each representative is subject to requests and suggestions from the same number of constituents, total population apportionment promotes equitable and effective representation.”
    “Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 States and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries,” Ginsburg wrote. “Appellants have shown no reason for the Court to disturb this longstanding use of total population.”

  • A South African leader insists ‘We are not for sale’

    Cyril Ramaphosa

    Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President

    Mar. 28, 2016 (GIN) – South Africans are rising up against the outsized influence of corporate entities and wealthy individuals allegedly doling out contracts and jobs within the ANC.
    Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, at a recent event, rebutted the charge, declaring the ANC was not for sale and anyone who wanted to capture the state should “go next door.” Speaking to about 1,500 professionals and academics at the ANC event in Sandton last week, Ramaphosa declared: “Those who want to capture the ANC and influence it to advance personal or corporate interests, you have come to the wrong address. Try next door. We will not be captured.”
    A South Asian family close to the president who allegedly peddled jobs within the government was not the only one exploiting their connections, he added. “There are a number of others as well, and we are saying to all and sundry, stop in your tracks, we will not allow that.”
    But questions continue to be raised including at a seminar last week hosted by the Association of Public Administration and Management. Political influence by corporate entities and wealthy individuals is “at pornographic levels,” said businessman and policy analyst FM Lucky Mathebula. “That is why we hear calls of the removal of the president and regime change.”
    Political analyst professor at the University of Pretoria, Tinyiko Maluleka, said state capture was “insidious,” and became entrenched over time. “The idea that two or three people capture the state in one day is useless,” said Maluleka.
    Former African National Congress Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola said the problem was not just corruption.
    “This is about democracy where unelected people are able to influence the decision to appoint ministers… “This is kleptocracy,” he added, “where a few elites are able to control and direct the state, a serious subversion of democracy.”
    Last week the group Equal Education released a statement calling state capture by the rich and powerful “a mortal threat to democracy” and pledged to join a “week of outrage” with other movement groups. “When our democratic state is put into the top pocket of a few rich people” then “the working class and the unemployed, the poor and the historically looted – the black majority – are attacked and further looted”.
    Meanwhile, President Zuma’s daughter, Thuthukile Zuma, a recent graduate in anthropology, has been awarded a high profile tender as a supplier to a prominent local company involved in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. Just prior to this, Thuthukile was the chief of staff in the Dept of Telecommunications and Postal Services.
    At 27, she is the youngest of President Zuma’s four daughters with his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

  • The Obamas play the roles of mom and dad perfectly at Easter Egg Roll

    By: Jamie Feldman, Style Editor, Huffington Post

    Michelle

    Obama with Easter Bunny at White House
    Easter Egg Roll

    President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have a few months left to dress up for events at the White House, but there’s one job for which they’ll always know how to dress the part: Mom and Dad. After a whirlwind few weeks of sartorial stunners, the Obamas arrived at the 138th Easter Egg Roll on Monday looking more like America’s parents than anything else. Michelle wore a grassy green top, a long jacket and what appears to be leggings and sneakers, while Barack donned that gingham shirt and, well, dad jeans.
    They then proceeded to do incredibly mom- and dad-like things: a dramatic reading of “Where the Wild Things Are,” delivering high-fives, making jokes about the whip and nae nae and listening to mom-and-dad favorite Idina Menzel sing the national anthem.

  • New report shows Medicaid expansion in Alabama can improve behavioral health care access

    In Alabama 85,000 uninsured people with a mental illness or substance use disorder had incomes that could qualify them for expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
    Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report showing that Alabama can greatly improve access to behavioral health services for its residents by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Substance use disorders and mental illness are prevalent and serious public health problems in American communities.
    In Alabama, 85,000 uninsured people with a mental illness or substance use disorder had incomes that could qualify them for expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available.  The report also finds that people with behavioral health needs made up a substantial share of all low-income uninsured individuals: in Alabama, about 30.3 percent. While some of these individuals had access to some source of health insurance in 2014, many will only gain access to coverage if Alabama expands Medicaid, and others would gain access to more affordable coverage.
    “Today’s report shows that Medicaid expansion is an important step Alabama can take to address behavioral health needs, including serious mental illness and opioid and other substance use disorders,” said Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell.
    Today’s report highlights that, along with its other benefits, Medicaid expansion would dramatically improve access to treatment for people with mental and substance use disorders, thereby improving health outcomes. Research shows that low-income adults with serious mental illness are significantly more likely to receive treatment if they have access to Medicaid coverage, with benefits for their health. The report estimates that if Alabama expanded Medicaid, 16,000 fewer individuals would experience symptoms of depression and 24,000 additional individuals would report being in good or excellent health.
    To date, 30 states plus DC have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. However, 20 states—including many of the states that would benefit most—have not yet seized this opportunity. Previous studies have found that if these states do not change course, over 4 million of their citizens will be deprived of health insurance coverage in 2016.
    States that choose to expand Medicaid may achieve significant improvement in their behavioral health programs without incurring new costs. State funds that currently directly support behavioral health care treatment for people who are uninsured but would gain coverage under expansion may become available for other behavioral health investments.  For example, several states that expanded Medicaid reported that they expected reductions in general funds needing to be allocated to the uninsured for treatment ranging from $7 million to $190 million in 2015. This creates opportunities to meet other pressing health, mental health and substance use disorder needs. States can also expect to have a more productive workforce, because expanding treatment will permit a reduction in adverse workforce outcomes stemming from mental and substance use disorders. Research shows that depressed employees incur significantly more disability days than do otherwise similar employees, and substance use disorder treatment was associated with $5,366 annually in employer savings from reduced absenteeism alone.
    Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, states have the opportunity to expand Medicaid coverage to individuals with family incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Health care costs for people made newly eligible through the Medicaid expansion are paid for with 100 percent federal funds in 2016, and 95 percent in 2017, scaling down to 90 percent in calendar years 2020 and beyond. President Obama recently proposed an extra incentive for states that have not yet expanded their Medicaid programs, which would provide any state that takes up Medicaid expansion the same three years of full Federal support and gradual phase down that those states that expanded in 2014 received.

  • Congresswoman Terri Sewell introduces H.R. 4817 to designate Birmingham’s Historic Civil Rights District a National Park

    Martin Luther King Jr in Kelly Ingram Park
    16th St. Church – the one that was bombed in the civil rights era

    Shown above: Memorial to Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Sixteenth Street Baptist Church which would be part of proposed Historic Civil Rights District

     

    The City of Birmingham played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement and this national designation will forever cement its place in American history.
    Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-AL-7) released the following statement to announce the filing of H.R. 4817, a bill to designate Birmingham’s Historic Civil Rights District as a National Park.
    “I am proud to introduce this important, bi-partisan legislation that incorporates Birmingham’s Historic Civil Rights sites into the National Park Service System,” states Representative Sewell. “With this designation, historic preservation efforts will be enhanced for these historic sites, greater economic revitalization will occur, and it will forever cement the pivotal role Birmingham played in the Civil Rights Movement.””The Historic Civil Rights District in Birmingham holds many stories of the journey from what was regarded as one of the most segregated cities in the South to what Birmingham is today. The National Park designation will be a real tourism boost for Birmingham and will mean greater economic development for Alabama. The Birmingham Civil Rights District will include a 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, A.G. Gaston Motel and other historic landmarks.”Several noteworthy stakeholders expressed their support for the Bill:
    “Sharing the Birmingham Civil Rights Story and legacy is paramount to the success of the City. We are thankful to Congresswoman Sewell for moving this legislation forward. This is an exciting time for our City,” says Mayor William Bell of Birmingham, Alabama.
    “As a gathering place for activists and leaders in the Civil Rights movement, the sites within the Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical Park tell of the African-American fight for equality. The National Trust applauds Congresswoman Terri Sewell for her leadership in introducing this significant legislation, and proudly stands with Mayor William A. Bell and the City of Birmingham in supporting this effort to preserve not only the places but the history that happened in the thriving historic district.
    We urge the House of Representatives to quickly approve this legislation to ensure these places live on to benefit future generations of Americans and beyond,” states Tom Cassidy, Vice President of Government Relations & Policy, National Trust for Historic Preservation.
    “Birmingham was one of the most heavily segregated cities in the United States in the 1960s. The non-violent protest marches in Birmingham in the spring of 1963 and the violent response they evoked from police and state and local officials drew national attention and helped to break the back of segregation in that city,” states Theresa Pierno, President and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association. “We commend Representative Sewell for working to ensure these pivotal moments in the long struggle to bring equality and justice to all Americans will never be forgotten. The addition of a Birmingham Civil Rights National Historical Park would allow this important Civil Rights story to be told for generations to come.”

    About the Proposed National Park Designation

    The proposed Birmingham national park site would include 16th Street Baptist Church, A.G. Gaston Motel, Kelly Ingram Park, Bethel Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
    The “National Historic Park” designation by the National Park Service (NPS) is defined as particularly notable because of its connection with events or people of historic interest. Such entities often extend beyond a single property or building. Many entities are not traditional “parks” in the sense of extensive green spaces, but are rather urban areas with a number of historically relevant buildings.

  • South African ANC elders fear party is ‘drifting from its ideals

    South Africa

    South African poster for Human Rights Day

    Mar. 21, 2016 (GIN) – The usual celebrations marking Human Rights Day on March 21 were upstaged this year by an epic scandal that has shaken the party at its highest level.  Little else has captured the attention of South Africa’s citizens over the past weeks as much as the story of government job peddling by wealthy friends of the president, Jacob Zuma. The alleged peddling came to light when a deputy in the finance ministry said he was called by the influential Indian-South African Gupta family to a meeting where, without any ANC official present, they offered him the Treasury’s top post, which he declined. The allegation sparked talk of a “state capture” by the business class, divvying up jobs and other contracts and making political decisions based on self-enrichment.
    Veteran anti-apartheid fighters were shocked and dismayed. In an open letter signed by The Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, they expressed their fears.
    This is a “difficult time in the history of the ANC and our country,” they began. While such periods have been resolved before, they said, “we are deeply concerned about the current course on which our country is headed. We believe this course is contrary to the individual and collective legacy of our Founders.”
    “We hear what ordinary South Africans tell us through our work, and are challenged by friends and comrades who witness cumulative fragmentation of the ANC, a great organization our Founders helped build and sustain over generations… It seems to us that the ANC has significantly drifted away from the ideals to which our Founders and many others dedicated their lives.
    “In the spirit of our Founders, we cannot passively watch these deeply concerning developments unfold and get worse by the day.”
    The letter writers appealed to the National Executive Committee of the ANC to take note of the mood of the people across the country.
    “History will judge the ANC leadership harshly if it fails to take the decisions that will restore the trust and confidence of the people of South Africa,” they warned, adding an invitation to seek their counsel. “Our doors are open!”
    Members of the party’s senior ranks expressed support for the president but offered to investigate Zuma’s relationship with the Guptas and whether it has started a process of “state capture.”
    Meanwhile, President Zuma addressed a full house at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durham on the occasion of Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, whose theme this year is “South Africans United Against Racism.”

  • Serena Williams slams sexist tennis official’s misogynistic comments

    “We shouldn’t have to drop to our knees at
    any point.”

    Juliet Spies-Gans, Editorial Fellow, HuffPost Sports

    TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON
    US player Serena Williams returns the ball to Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka during their women’s quarter-finals match on day eight of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2015. AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE == (Photo credit should read GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)

    Let’s make one thing clear: Serena Williams — likely the greatest female tennis player ever, potentially the greatest female athlete ever and one of the most influential and groundbreaking sports figures of her generation — should not have to get down on her  knees, grovel or express her gratitude to any male  athlete for helping her on the road to success. On Sunday, just hours before Williams made her return to the prestigious Indian Wells finals, tournament director Raymond Moore made comments that were unambiguously and alarmingly sexist, suggesting to reporters that players of the WTA should worship at The Altar Of Roger Federer and the other big names of the men’s game who have shined their superstar light so brightly, so powerfully, that even women’s tennis has benefitted from their heroics.
    No really, he said that. “If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they have carried this sport,” Moore said. “They really have.”
    Williams, who has learned a thing or two over the years about taking unwarranted, misogynistic nonsense from the press and the public, did not mince words in her response to these remarks, needing just a few sentences to cut the director and his analysis down at the knees:
    Obviously, I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that … [If] I could tell you every day how many people say they don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister — I couldn’t even bring up that number. So I don’t think that is a very accurate statement. I think there are a lot of women out there who … are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways.
    And then came the kicker. Alluding to the 2015 U.S. Open, in which the women’s championship round sold out before that of the men’s, Williams went for the ace.
    “I’m sorry, did Roger play in that final?” Williams asked, rhetorically. “Or Rafa, or any man, play in that final …? I think not.”
    Williams went on to swat away any attempt to smooth over Moore’s statements, allowing him no escape from the discriminatory declaration he so nonchalantly made.
    “Well, if you read the transcript, you can only interpret it one way,” she said. “Get on your knees, which is offensive enough, and thank a man, which is not — we, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn’t have to drop to our knees at any point.”
    Moore released the obligatory boilerplate apology a few hours later, but his comments make clear the double standard still rampant in professional tennis today. Even as women and men now finally earn equal prize money from the major tournaments. And even as Serena Williams and the like continue to change the landscape of the sport, year after year.