Serena Williams Subtly Joins ‘Take A Knee’ Movement In New Baby Photo, Increases Traffic To Instagram & Reddit
Serena Williams is busy settling into her new role as a mother, but that doesn’t mean she is missing out on all the things happening in the world. Not only did she write a heartfelt message on Instagram and Reddit for her mother, but she also subtly joined the “Take a Knee” movement that is happening in the NFL right now. While some celebrities like to protect their personal lives from the public glare, it looks like Serena and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, prefers to put it all out there for their fans to enjoy.
“Take a Knee” is a movement that is spreading across the NFL as a way to protest the racial injustice and police brutality in the U.S. When President Donald Trump said some inflammatory words at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama, it became a bigger deal and put power behind the gesture.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of the NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say ‘Get that son of a b***h off the field right now?'” Trump said.
The movement grew to such size that Eric Reid, the fellow teammate of Colin Kaepernick, who started “Take a Knee” back in 2016, published an opinion piece in the New York Times.
“[Colin and I] came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit, the next day during the anthem as a peaceful protest,” he wrote. “We chose to kneel because it’s a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy.”
“It baffles me that our protest is still being misconstrued as disrespectful to the country, flag, and military personnel,” he continued. “We chose it because it’s exactly the opposite. It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest.”
In the context of these things happening in American sports, Serena Williams posted a picture of herself kneeling during a match in Wimbledon alongside a new baby photo.
She wrote an extended message to her mother on Reddit, her husband’s company, talking about how she chooses to take pride in her body instead of letting others criticize it.
“I am proud we were able to show them what some women look like,” she wrote. “We don’t all look the same. We are curvy, strong, muscular, tall, small, just to name a few, and all the same: we are women and proud!”
The former world No. 1 is also receiving a lot of support from her husband, who has taken a leave of absence to be there for his baby daughter. Knowing that he is a co-founder of one of the biggest social media companies in the world, he uses all the platforms to show the world how his paternal leave is going.
Posting all these new baby photos on Instagram and Reddit means that Serena and Alexis are sending a lot of traffic toward their businesses, not to a third-party magazine. The 35-year-old tennis player admitted before she gave birth that she is looking for ways to grow her business with her baby.
“I feel like having a child is opening new doors because I can understand parents and especially mothers,” she said, according to USA Today. “I feel like I can understand even more companies. I honestly feel like it opens (a new category) of business opportunities. Even looking from child food — I’m really a health nut so I want to make sure my baby eats really healthy — so that’s just a whole new (category) of business opportunities that I would have never paid attention to.”
Do you think Serena Williams will make a more definitive statement in the “Take a Knee” movement? Let us know in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images]
