EDITORIAL
Teed off against sexism & racism
As the annual spring Masters golf tournament looms, its
host--the Augusta National Golf Club--is still refusing to
admit women as members of its elite fraternity.
This policy is discriminatory, anachronistic and
infuriating. And, adding insult to injury, on Nov. 18 the New
York Times editorial board suggested that the already legendary
and brilliant Black golfer Tiger Woods--who has his own battles
against racism on the manicured courses of Augusta--should get
the policy changed by refusing to play in the Masters, a
tournament he fought hard to be eligible for as a player.
This is an arrogant and conscious deflection of
responsibility from the wealthy white men who run the club to
Woods. Tiger Woods doesn't even have voting rights at the club.
He is an "honorary" member. Black golfers were excluded from
the links at the Masters until Lee Elder became the first in
the 1975 competition.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson rightly assailed the Times editorial:
"I don't remember them saying to Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus to
boycott the Masters because Blacks are not playing." Jackson
vows that the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition will protest the Masters
tournament in April if a woman is not a member by then.
The National Council of Women's Organizations is also
gearing up to protest the exclusion of women as members of this
good-ole-boys club.
CBS, which has broadcast this prestigious golf event for 46
years, isn't leading the charge to demand this sexist policy be
upended. In fact, it has been silent on this issue, apparently
hoping that "complaints of the National Council of Women's
Organizations will be smothered by public indifference or
backlash against what even some women shrug off as archaic
feminist principle." (New York Times, Nov. 25)
The demand for equal rights is an archaic feminist
principle? This reminds us of the popular bumper sticker that
assures, "I'll be post feminist in the post patriarchy!"
There's nothing trivial about this confrontation. It's not a
game. This battle for women's rights is an integral part of the
class struggle, even if the issue appears to be the right of
affluent women to join an all male country club. If these male
bosses win the right to discriminate on their days off, the
result of this struggle will have an impact on the fight for
women's rights across the board.
This is a battle against the bosses. Even the Times, in its
later article, noted that the tournament is "one of the world's
great attractions for business executives who bring along their
most valued customers and clients. During the tournament the
city airports are awash with corporate jets, and limos line the
streets."
Of course this class clarity by the Times appears to have
been rendered more lucid after seven days of outrage against
its editorial singling out Tiger Woods, in which it had
written: "A tournament without Mr. Woods would send a powerful
message that discrimination isn't good for the golfing
business."
Golfing business is big business. And Augusta is the
clubhouse for the scions of financial and corporate kingdoms.
That's who profit from the unequal status of women, African
Americans and other huge segments of the population who are
burdened by the weight of discrimination and inequality.
And that's where the slings and arrows of outraged protest
should be aimed.
Reprinted from the Dec. 12, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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