Letter to Tiger Woods: Why accept that medal from Trump?

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Donald Trump presents the Medal of Freedom to golfer Tiger Woods.

Dear Tiger Woods: What moved you to accept the Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump Monday night?

Where have you been the past three years? Wandering among the greens of exclusive country clubs, I'd venture to guess, immune to what's happening in the streets, the courts, schools and government chambers.

We hailed you as a hero and then you fell, but we still backed your long comeback. And when you finally won the Masters again after so many years, we cheered along with your mother and mixed-race children.

Other sports teams dominated by African American athletes such as the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, the Philadelphia Eagles and most of the Boston Patriots and the University of Virginia NCAA basketball champs have all turned down invitations to eat burgers with the current White House occupant.

The Baltimore Sun wrote in an editorial Monday: “Mr. Woods has made his choice, and part of his legacy will be embracing a man who incited bigotry and racism.” ... Trump “regularly demonizes minorities and emboldens those who hate.”

Trump has called white nationalists "good people," insulted NFL players who were protesting the inequality in our society and most recently, snubbed Kyler Murray, the black/Asian No.1 NFL draft pick and instead congratulated the second pick because he was a white Trump supporter, and is trying to institute strict new immigration rules that -- if in place years ago -- would have prevented your mother from immigrating here.

As an -every-weekend golfer, Trump has long been a fan of yours and recently, he became a business partner with you. Your remarkable comeback will certainly enhance several of Trump's golf course and hotels.

Instead, you chose to let Trump have his moment with you because he has several golf courses that you play at. Don't you realize your apparent endorsement of Trump will enrich his resorts and businesses plus (mistakenly, in his mind, at least) enhance his standings with African Americans?

When you first won the Masters in 1997 and you donned the green jacket, you made a bold statement to a sport and a clubhouse that had rules preventing African Americans' memberships. We cheered you for breaking down those racist barriers.

If you had refused the medal, you could have had another chance to make another, even grander statement in behalf of your Asian mother and African American father, your  mixed-race children  and millions of other people who look like you and your family. 

Instead, to our bitter disappointment, you bogeyed.

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'Cablinasian' Tiger Woods wins fifth Masters golf tournament

SCREEN CAPTURE / ESPN

After his final putt to win the Masters, Tiger Woods couldn't contain himself.

In the stories about Sunday's (April 14) Masters win by Tiger Woods, inevitably, journalists will describe him as a "black golfer," but we know better, don't we?

Woods is only a quarter-black and half-Asian. The other quarter of Woods' racial heritage is American Indian. Early in his career when he just dropped out oft Stanford to become a pro-golfer, when asked about his ethnic backgrounds, Woods referred to himself as Cablinasian, combining all the races.

Its been a while since Woods, 43, has been at the top of his game so he's been out of the news headlines and relegated to sidebars so let's go back a few years when Woods' racial heritage was the subject of many discussions about athletes and it's intersection with race.

Here are some comments from Quora: 

Steven Hansen, former Retired at Professional Pilot (1970-2016)

Answered Nov 26, 2018 · Author has 799 answers and 25.5k answer views

Very good question. Tigers dad who taught him about young blond girls by his own example as he was separated from his wife you know. Earls quest was to show the rich white man how superior his Afro heritage was, sick but true. Tiger loved both his overbearing father and his loving mother. But as far as Earl was concerned Tiger was Black Peroid. You might not like that answer but it’s true.

Russ Dewolf, Founder/ CEO RRCB Media Assets Inc.

Answered Dec 2, 2017 · Author has 7.7k answers and 3.4m answer views

Because of three hundred years of “Black” being an identity used to differentiate people of color in order to marginalize them.

While America certainly contains racism towards people of Asian ancestry, it has generally been treated as of being a lesser scope and scale than racism toward people of Black ancestry, the concentration camps that WWII Japanese Americans were herded into notwithstanding.

The ramification of that is that Blackness tends to remains a more potent differentiating characteristic from the White majority for a minority than does Asian heritage.

Ken Rosenzweig, Systems Analyst and Developer for way too long (1986-present)

Answered Apr 6, 2018 · Author has 707 answers and 385.3k answer views

It’s kind of an interesting question. Very early in Woods’ career, he would make a point of emphasizing his mixed heritage. He referred to himself as “Cablinasian,” combining his Caucasian, Black, Asian, and American Indian heritage. His mother is Asian. His father was of mixed race, having both white and native American heritage besides being African American.

Woods got very famous and signed an endorsement deal for a staggering amount of money with Nike (among other companies). Nike built a golf division around him. While he may still consider himself of mixed race, publicly you’d be hard pressed to find him or anyone else referring to him as anything but black from this point on. Money talks, and Nike called the shots for him. He was more valuable as a black man to them

SCREEN CAPTURE / ESPN

Tiger Woods hugs his mother after winning the Masters tourney.

Hampered by injuries and a messy divorce, Woods has not won a major in 11 years. 
Sunday he posted a final round 2-under 70 to win the 2019 Masters. It's his first major win since the 2008 U.S. Open, 15th of his career and first at Augusta National since 2005. 


Golf has a long history of racism. The Masters, in particular, has historic ties to the country's racist past. Slaves picked cotton where the hallowed course was built. The Masters barred black players until 1975, and had no black members until 1990.

Woods won the Masters for the first time in 1997 at age 21, making him the youngest player to win there. He has gone on to win the tournament three more times.

In his first Masters victory,Wood's margin of victory –12 strokes – was the largest in the 20th century, and second only to Old Tom Morris’ 13-shot margin at the 1862 British Open. His score of 18-under-par 270 broke Jack Nicklaus’ 32-year-old Masters record of 17-under-par 271.

Woods was the youngest golfer by two years to win the Masters and the first person of Asian or African heritage to win a major. Never before had so many spectators come to Augusta National, and never before had so many people watched it on television.

How Woods chooses to identify himself is his own business, but he can't stop people from claiming some piece of him. 

Woods represents one of the fastest growing segments of our society as the son of a racially mixed marraige, a trend that will continue well into this country as our society becomes more diverse, according to a Census report.

Journalists also have the responsibility to not limit themselves to a binary choice of black and white. A simple Google search would have revealed Wood's complex background. It is true he is part black. It is also true he is half Thai. Simply calling him one or the other is not accurate.

(Minutes after Tiger Woods' Masters win Nike released this great commercial.)

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