Surya taking her medal off. (SpOken WoRd For Surya Bonaly)
At the next World Championship, she’d had
enough.
She did not accept the silver medal, nor
did she stand on the second-place podium as the medallions were presented.
Bum-rushed by the press before even leaving
the ice,
She made sure they knew she had no ill will
against the other skaters,
But right then,
She knew.
We all knew.
Just like we’d known in the Olympics prior
to that when the young champion was humiliatingly made to perform last, and
She came in 4th place.
Or, the Olympics before that when her coach
forbade her from attempting a quadruple turn,
Even disputing, bullying and threatening the
child and her mother moments before her turn to skate.
Or even the Olympics or World Championships
before that
When everybody’s favorite pretty little
white girls always took home gold.
Meanwhile, Ms. Surya was praised for her
strength, and
Her musculature was coded as masculine, and
Fetishized for her athleticism, and
Her athleticism was coded as super-human,
and
Denied gold due to her exoticism, and
The fact they didn’t know where, and
This is a direct quote:
The judges and sports reporters didn’t know
where “she fit in.”
Black people don’t fit in.
Especially dark-skinned Black people.
Surya was a dark-skinned Black girl.
Imagine Surya,
Her coal Black skin glistening and gliding
against the ice.
That in itself is such a sight that it
genuinely appears frightening to the untrained eye.
And by untrained, naturally, I mean
untrained in looking beyond the veil of race.
Then, gliding backward steadily to a
mezzo-soprano,
Surya seamlessly executes a
backflip and lands on a single blade, and
Seamlessly leaps into a triple spin — she’s
bad!
The crowd bursts into a roar!
Applaud lingers as she finishes.
Ice-skating judges at the time it seems, were
drawn from a pool of untrained eyes,
At least according to the other champions
interviewed in the Netflix special on Surya’s career,
A part of a series called Losers.
—
Surya on ice,
Shines, when pale skin skaters fade-in.
In one championship performance, she wore a
fire red suit.
Simple, like a one-piece swimsuit, only a
few dangly bits,
But the color, against her skin, against
the ice,
All twirling fast, gliding gracefully,
Careful set-ups to dramatic leaps,
Surya was like her name: The sun.
She was literally the Black gold of the sun.
-
This all was not enough.
So finally, Surya pulled an Ali and took
her medal off.
Where Ali came home as an Olympic gold
medallist, and
Couldn’t get served at a business in the
downtown of our own hometown, and
Legend has it Ali took off his medal and
cast it off the Second Street bridge into the Ohio River.
Surya basically did the same.
She would not accept second class
citizenship on ice, and
She had to finally take a stand, and
She refused to accept second place, and
Tired of the coded racist language-
The sort facing the exotic musculature of Serena
today –
Serena can’t even grunt without coded
racist responses from fans and commentators, and
This fetish certainly plays out on Black
girls’ hair, dress and decorum every day all day.
-
Surya stood upon that ice as the other
winners took to their respective podiums,
And lifted the silver medal off her chest,
Bearing witness to the world
What it means to be Black and excellent.
Young. Gifted. And
Black.
See Surya’s amazing skills here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rE_4_CCEgc
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