A Hero on the Green and in History

''It's not an exaggeration to say that without Charlie, and the other pioneers who fought to play, I may not be playing golf,'' Wood wrote. ''My pop likely wouldn't have picked up the sport, and maybe I wouldn't have either.''

A recent article by ABC news highlighted the adoration that the sports community has for a certain golfer, Charlie Sifford, and how he broke through the racial boundaries of the sport. Way before Tiger Woods became a well-known face of professional golf, or even started playing, Charlie Sifford, now 92, was part of the campaign against racial disparity and racist policies in the sport back in the 1950s. Because of this, he is receiving an award (the Presidential Medal of Freedom)by the White House on November 24th of this year.




This award signifies all of the hard work and horribly rough times that this courageous and passionate man went through to participate in a sport that he loved and had every right to play. Sifford was the very first African American man to receive his PGA card to be able to play golf professionally, and he essentially paved the way for other ethnicities to be able to participate as well as other black golfers. Back in 2004, Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and was the first African American to do so. Among other highly prestigious awards and recognitions, "in 2009, the Northern Trust Open created an exemption for a player who represents the advancement of diversity in golf; it is named in honor of Sifford and is referred to as the Charlie Sifford Exemption.

Sifford's career did not, as one may well guess, start out as wonderfully as it has grown to be. Like most golfers, Sifford began as the grunt of the golfing industry...he was the caddy. At thirteen, he carried around bag after bag and absorbed the game as he went. As he grew older, he began competing in segregated tournaments set up specifically for black golfers (which was also not sponsored by the Professional Golf Association or PGA). After working his way to the top ("Sifford won the UGA's biggest event, the National Negro Open, six times, including five successive years from 1952 to 1956"), he then chose to battle the racial barriers that had been in place for years and started to campaign for change in the PGA. It took years for Sifford to break down the walls put in place by white America, and he felt a great deal of anger and resentment towards the people who created the game he loved but had, for so long, prevented him from truly competing because of the color of his skin. A quote from the Fox Sports page says, "He found it galling that the overseers of golf, a game supposedly built on honor, could be so cruel and callous by denying him his right to fully compete. He was 39 when he got his tour card, an age when professional golfers are typically past their prime." It took passion, drive, commitment, and more than a few sacrifices on his part to finally jump over the hurdle and into the Tour, but when he did he took it by storm, winning multiple tournaments and tours.

"People didn't know the name Charlie Sifford, didn't know a black man accomplished what he did," Powell said. "White people didn't know he made sacrifices for the game of golf. Now maybe they will look it up and find out what he did and why he did it."



Charlie Sifford is not the first African American man to go head-to-head against a racial barrier in sports and come out on top as a respected, athlete (and a Hall-of-Famer to boot). Think of names like Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Jim Brown, George Dixon, Marshall "Major" Taylor, and Jackie Robinson just to name a few. All of these athletes had to not only compete in incredibly strenuous sports (physically and mentally), but they also had to fight against biased thoughts, racism and a wall of people hoping that they failed along the way. But what each of these people also had in common was their resilience, and the fact that their love for a sport far over-powered anything that could be thrown at them to put them down.

"Barrier-breaking Charlie Sifford to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom." FOX Sports. N.p., 18 Nov. 2014. Web. Nov. 2014.

"Charlie Sifford." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. Nov. 2014.


Press, Mark Gillispie Associated. "Black Golfer Recognized for Breaking Barriers." ABC News. ABC News Network, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. Nov. 2014.

Women in Islam

What does it mean to be veiled in ISLAM!

Many people believe that Hijab is compulsory in Islam, however nowadays, many Muslim women are drifting away from this religious norm, and it is becoming a choice rather than an obligation. Many Women tend to wear the veil because it is required in Islam, and it is their belief. However other women tend to cover themselves only because they feel pressured by men in their society to do so. Many housewives wear the Hijab because their husbands tend to be over protective, rather than wearing it because it is part of their own religious principles. Men tend to coerce women, or intimidate them into thinking that not covering themselves up is unsuitable or inappropriate, and that they will be punished in the afterlife if they do not obey. But the truth is, it is tremendously unjust for girls to be forced to conceal their faces for their “reputation”, when men are not required to do the same. And that plays an immense role in feminism, because women should be able to make their own life choices, there should be equality between the two genders, especially when it comes to religion, and men should take on the role of the dominant alpha male.  Of course, this is not to assume that ALL women are forced to do this, because some women wear the veil because it is their spiritual belief, and that is extremely valued.

Conformity is another main reason various women wear the Hijab. It tends to make them feel comfortable within their own society. For example, many Muslim women in the upper class in Jordan are religious, however they do not cover themselves up because they are more open-minded, and almost all the other women within that circle do not wear a veil, so they fit in to their clique perfectly. That however does not mean they do not fast, pray and give money to the poor. In fact, they do all that, BUT the difference is, they are not covered.  This goes to show that not wearing the Hijab does not mean you are a corrupt Muslim. The lower class, and less fortunate people tend to wear the Hijab, that is because other people within their class are covered, which portrays that conformity plays a great role in things like this. Women should be able to make their own choices, and should not be judged on whether or not they wear a veil because being a respectable Muslim has nothing to do with that. Many women wear the Hijab for a long period of time due to pressure, but then end up taking it off. This is very disrespectful towards the religion, and it proves that women should not be coerced into concealing themselves because that is not what Islam is about; this actually relates to a personal story that I witnessed happen. In my senior year of high school there was a girl called Lubna who was covered, she was beautiful. She completely understood how beautiful she is, but consciously avoided let it become all she was and she oriented her actions on making life easier for those around her. But keeping her hijab on seemed to be a struggle and it was taking away a part of her every single day, the atmosphere around her and being in a high society high school made her take it off so she can feel more herself in a way fit in easier.  Despite the fact that Qur’an states that hijab is required, some women wear the hijab and then take it off, so why belittle the religion, if you want to wear the hijab keep it on because removing it can prove to be a disrespectful move towards the religion and that leads back to the story about the girl in my school.

Lack of Diversity in Children's Books

Last blog, I commented on the lack of diversity for Young Adult covers. Along with book covers, there is a lacking of diversity within. Not only are novels continually putting whites onto covers, they are also continually only putting whites as characters. However, for this blog, I am focusing on children books because as children, absorbing everything they see, hear, read, touch etc can have a lasting effect unconsciously. Children books even as of today are lacking diversity. Many young minorities have to go without understanding why they are not “good” enough to be in a novel when mythical creatures such as dragons, and goblins are. 

This exclusion from novels may seem insignificant to some, but never or only absorbing a glimpse of who they are can cause many problems later in the future. As Myers states “A gap in the much-written-about sense of self-love that comes from recognizing oneself in a text, from the understanding that your life and lives of the people like you are worthy of being told, thought about, discussed and even celebrated” (3).  Without having that reassurance of self-worth minority-children will constantly feel lesser, ashamed of who they are, and will struggle to find their identity.

Percentages of Diversity in Children's Books

From the picture below, one can see that only 7.5% of children's books involves coloured children. Showing that the diversity is lacking for all children of colour, not one specific group.

However, those who are given that privilege of being written and read about will also have a confused future. When they “face the realities of our world, our global economies, our integrations and overlapping, they all do so without a proper map…They are threatened by the difference and try to wish for a more familiar form” (Myers 5). Children of colour, however, are force to understand the boundaries of which the world has created, and therefore “are certain to imagine themselves well within the borders they are offered, to colour themselves inside the lines” (Myers 5). Even though the coloured children’s future will not be as confusing as white children’s, they still will be lost because they never were written for this world, so how do they write themselves??

Pointing fingers at who to blame for this lack of diversity will only complicate matters, and delay the actions that needs to take place. Authors need to work together to demand diversity, and too constantly keep writing stories which indulges in diversity. And readers need to read those books to their children and for themselves. The few books that are published with much diversity needs to heard about. Such things are hard to accomplish, which is understandable, but isn’t impossible.

Myers, Christopher. “The Apartheid of Children’s Literature.” The New York Times. March 15, 2014. Website. Assessed Nov 18, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/the-apartheid-of-childrens-literature.html?_r=0

Boog Jason. "Artist Illustrates Dramatic Lack of Diversity in Kid's Books." GalleyCat. July 25, 2013. Website. Assessed Nov 18, 2014. http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/illustrated-guide-to-the-diversity-problem-in-kids-books_b74771