There is the unsung story of Margaret and Matilda Roumania Peters. They were sisters from Washington D.C. who had great doubles tennis matches during the 1930's, the 1940's, and the 1950's. They played in the American Tennis Association. That was a league to give African Americans a chance to play competitive tennis at a national level. It was created in 1916, and it's around today. The ATA is the oldest black sports organizaiton in America similar to the Negro Leagues in baseball. The ATA had tournaments nationwide to help black tennis players the opportunities to play the sport that they so much love. The Peters sisters were stars and signed autographs plus posed for publicity shoots. Back then, crowds of black and white people traveled to watch them play. Both sisters were known for slice serves, powerful backhands, and unique shots. Gene Kelly would play tennis with the Peters sisters when he was in town according to Cecil Harris and Larryette Kyle-BeBose's book entitled, Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis. Althea Gibson was younger than the Peters by nearly 10 years. Gibson played in the ATA too. Matilda Peters was the only African American woman to ever defeat Althea Gibson. George Stewart was the first black man to play at the U.S. Open in 1952. The Peters sisters won 14 doubles championships in the ATA. The Peters sisters were inducted into the USTA's Mid Atlantic Section Hall of Fame in November 2003. They were inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012. Matilda passed away from pneumonia in May 2003, and Margaret died in November 2004. The Peters sisters led a foundation that Althea Gibson, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams flourished on. The sisters will never be forgotten on this Black History Month (of 2022).
Some good news of the pandemic is that cases from COVID-19 has radically gone down. Many places and states have dropped mandatory mask mandates. Dr. Fauci said that the worst is over, but Fauci and the CDC recommend mask wearing. Now, NYC ends masks requirements in certain businesses. Cases have been declining by 70% since the past 3 weeks. Jen Psaki said that they are ready for the next phase of the U.S. response to the virus. The government is authorizing 10 million more doses to help people. People are watching the BA.2 Omicron subvariant spreading in Denmark and the UK (it spreads faster than BA.1). So, we should not let our guards down. Times are better now than last month, but we have a very long way to go in seeing recovery. Right now, Vienna is having a meeting among America and Iran on nuclear issues. Iran has unveiled a long-range missile. Russia and the Ukraine have shown military exercises. Russia's Navy wants to shut down parts of the Black Sea to test military equipment. That would block Ukrainian ports which is Russia's provocative act.
President Biden's 6.6 million jobs in the first year in office is the most jobs for a President in one year in American history. We have great job growth. We still have economic problems like economic inequality, massive profits for billionaires, inflation, oil prices increase, poverty, homelessness and other issues. This recovery is better than the previous recessions. The American Rescue Plan and other policies have helped millions of Americans. If the GOP can pass a 1.9 trillion-dollar tax cut for the super-rich with 51 votes, we should vote for federal voting rights legislation much lower than 60 votes. At this time, we don't need rising interest rates as our economy is still very fragile. More inflation leads to more goods and services being more expensive to buy from groceries to homes. We should expand the Child Tax Credit which caused child poverty to drop by at least a third. Household debt while corporations have record financial gains is a serious problem that must be addressed. Also, there must be pressure placed on the current administration to pass federal voting rights legislation to defend our democracy that our ancestors bled and died for.
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