An Open Letter To The U.S. Open and USTA
Dear U.S. Open and USTA officials:
Donald Trump will attend the U.S. Open men’s tennis final today, as a guest of Rolex. Yesterday, Trump posted a meme declaring ‘WAR’ on the city of Chicago. The USTA has called for media censorship of dissent against Trump at today’s US Open.
I played NCAA tennis for the State University of New York at Albany many years ago. I still play. Today, in memory of my relatives who perished in Europe at the hands of fascists, I resign my USTA membership. I encourage all USTA members to resign in protest.
This year’s U.S. Open theme art celebrates Althea Gibson, the first Black woman to win the tournament, with the slogan “breaking barriers.” Meanwhile, Trump is targeting a Black woman, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. His administration is ginning up bogus charges and attempting to fire her.
Image credit: Nancy Levine Stearns and The Queen Zone
Today’s U.S. Open men’s tennis final features Jannik Sinner from Italy against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain. What can we learn from the history of their countries and the rise of fascist dictators?
“How Mussolini led Italy to fascism—and why his legacy looms today: the Italian dictator’s memory still haunts the nation,” National Geographic reported.
In “Spain’s oft-forgotten ties to the Nazis,” Smithsonian Magazine details Franco’s ties to Hitler, Smithsonian Institution reported.
Silence is an act of complicity. “Indifference to evil is worse than evil itself,” said Abraham Heschel. I will miss the USTA, but I will not sit idly by while a fascist dictator rises to power in America – the country where my relatives sought and found refuge.
The U.S. Open and USTA need to break barriers – not just pay lip service to the legacy of Althea Gibson.
No one from the US Open, USTA, or Rolex have responded to my inquiries.
– Nancy Levine Stearns
