Megan Varner/Reuters

Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia attends the state convention of the Democratic Party in Columbus, Georgia, on Aug. 27, 2022. His chances for reelection have risen thanks to several factors, from easing gasoline prices to the nomination of a Trump-endorsed rival – Republican former football star Herschel Walker – who is polling poorly with voters.

Not long ago, Democrats seemed resigned to historical precedent – that the president’s party almost always loses House and Senate seats in midterm elections, sometimes a lot. 

The telltale signs were there: An unpopular president. An economy out of whack, with soaring gas prices and high overall inflation. The public in a sour mood. Given Democrats’ extremely narrow control of each chamber, a Republican sweep seemed all but certain. 

But a funny thing has happened on the way to the “shellacking” of 2022: It might not materialize. 

The closely divided House still seems likely to go Republican on Nov. 8, albeit by a slimmer margin than once expected. But the Senate – currently at 50-50, with the Democratic vice president breaking tie votes – has turned into a nail-biter. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said as much recently, predicting an “extremely close” result, with either party conceivably winning a majority. “Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome” in Senate races, he said, a slap at struggling GOP nominees in key states – and by extension, at former President Donald Trump, who endorsed them. 

A confluence of factors is making control of the Senate more competitive. In addition to weak Republican candidates, there’s been an improvement in gas prices, a GOP campaign cash crunch, and the Supreme Court’s overturning of nationwide abortion rights, an animating issue for Democrats and many independents. Some states have seen a surge in women registering to vote after the high court ruling. 

“The dynamic of midterms is [usually] very strong. People who are unhappy turn out to vote, and usually it’s folks not in the president’s party,” says Stuart Rothenberg, a veteran political analyst. But “clearly, over the past few weeks, there’s been a surge in Democratic enthusiasm compared with six months ago.” 

The political forecasters at FiveThirtyEight now rate Democrats as “slightly favored” to win the Senate. Under the firm’s model, Democrats win the Senate majority in 65 out of 100 simulations. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report recently shifted its Senate forecast to “toss-up.” 

The shift on abortion

The latest Pew Research Center poll finds that while the economy remains the top voting issue, abortion has grown in significance. Some 56% of registered voters now say abortion will be “very important” in their midterm vote, up from 43% in March. The increase was driven by Democrats, the poll finds.  

Pew has President Joe Biden’s job approval rating at just 37%, but a declining share of voters say that he will be a factor in their midterm vote. Furthermore, both the FiveThirtyEight and Real Clear Politics averages of major polls show President Biden’s approval rising steadily in recent weeks to 42%.

Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle/AP

A long line of voters wraps around the Sedgwick County Historic Courthouse in Wichita, Kansas, on the last day of early voting on Aug. 1, 2022. A notable increase in turnout among Democrats and independents and a surprising shift in Republican-leaning counties contributed to the faillure of an anti-abortion referendum in the traditionally conservative state.

Democrats also point to recent votes as encouraging signs. In deep-red Kansas, voters resoundingly defeated an anti-abortion referendum to amend the state constitution. And a special House election in a toss-up district in New York went Democratic. Of course, a referendum and a House race are not predictive of Senate elections, but they did show an ability to motivate voters. 

Another factor helping Democrats is the “map.” In this cycle, they are not defending any Senate seats in states won by former President Trump in 2020. 

Democrats acknowledge their Senate prospects may grow cloudier again between now and November. But they are seizing on the current momentum and running with it. Last Thursday, at a rally in suburban Maryland, Mr. Biden went on the offensive, accusing former President Trump’s party of “semi-fascism.” 

Even if Democrats lose the House, thwarting Mr. Biden’s ability to pass major legislation come January, keeping a Senate majority would still matter greatly. It would make confirming nominees much less fraught – most consequentially, a new Supreme Court justice, if a vacancy were to occur. 

The Trump factor

One X-factor lurking in the wings is Mr. Trump himself. In July, he was reportedly telling advisers he might announce a 2024 presidential bid before the midterms, to shore up support in his political base and stave off potential GOP rivals. 

The FBI’s search of Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month might have done that work for him. Top Republicans, including some clearly eyeing 2024, rallied around the former president. And while his overall favorability among Republicans didn’t change after the Mar-a-Lago search, an Economist/YouGov poll showed a 12-percentage-point boost in Republicans who view him “very favorably.” 

But it’s not clear how long the rally effect will last, and there’s no guarantee that Mr. Trump will listen to advisers who think announcing for 2024 before the midterms is a bad idea. One of their concerns is that if Republicans underperform in November, he will be blamed. 

Democrats sound downright gleeful over the idea of Mr. Trump announcing pre-Nov. 8. 

“I can only hope he follows through on that threat,” says Jim Manley, a former spokesperson for the late Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

That would turn the campaign from a referendum on Mr. Biden to a quasi-rerun of the 2020 presidential race – but with the knowledge of everything that has happened since, including the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. 

Mr. Trump’s endorsements have already had a major impact on 2022. He clearly helped Mehmet Oz win the GOP Senate primary in Pennsylvania, where now even many Republicans say privately that the celebrity TV doctor is running a bad campaign. If Dr. Oz loses the race, that’s a Democratic takeover of a seat currently held by a retiring Republican. 

Two other Trump Senate endorsees are trailing freshman Democrats in battleground states that should be winnable. One is Herschel Walker of Georgia, a former football star and, like Dr. Oz, a first-time candidate. He brings personal baggage to the race, is prone to gaffes, and is polling much worse than other Republicans on the ballot, such as Gov. Brian Kemp. 

The other is venture capitalist Blake Masters of Arizona, another political novice, who claims the 2020 election was stolen. Political analysts say a stronger GOP nominee would have been Gov. Doug Ducey, but he declined to run after crossing Mr. Trump and certifying the state’s 2020 election result. 

The Cook report rates another Trump endorsee, two-term Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, as a toss-up for reelection based on his low approval ratings and “a history of saying false things,” as the Cook report put it, about COVID-19 and Jan. 6. But the Democratic nominee, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, may be too progressive for this purple state. 

And in red-leaning Ohio, author and novice candidate J.D. Vance – who surged to the GOP nomination after his Trump endorsement – is underperforming in the race for an open Senate seat. When the campaign fell short on cash, a major super PAC (political action committee) came to the rescue.

In the vein of “what might have been,” Republican strategists are looking wistfully at New Hampshire, where popular, moderate GOP Gov. Chris Sununu declined to run against vulnerable Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. Instead, the leading GOP candidate heading into the state’s Sept. 13 primary is retired Gen. Donald Bolduc, who promotes false election conspiracies. 

Republicans do have strong candidates in other competitive Senate races, starting with Nevada, against Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. GOP nominee Adam Laxalt, former state attorney general and grandson of a beloved Nevada political figure, was endorsed by Mr. Trump. In 2020, Mr. Laxalt tried to overturn Mr. Biden’s election victory in the state, claiming the election was “rigged.” Now, he’s reassuring Nevadans that their votes will count. Analysts say he’s walking a political tightrope, but still see this race as the GOP’s top takeover shot. 

Then there’s Colorado, a blue state in presidential politics, whose Senate race was not on Washington’s political radar until recently. Now it’s seen as competitive. The Republican nominee, businessperson and political newcomer Joe O’Dea, is a moderate who supports abortion rights, with limits. Mr. Trump made no endorsement in the primary. 

The incumbent, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, is fighting back, and making abortion the centerpiece of his campaign. But Dick Wadhams, a longtime Republican strategist in Colorado, thinks Mr. O’Dea could pull off an upset. He says Colorado voters, 46% of whom are politically unaffiliated, are willing to look beyond party labels and see candidates as individuals.

Still, he says, referencing Dr. Oz and Mr. Walker, “Republicans are in a vulnerable position” in their effort to retake the Senate. 

How do you make school meals more appealing? Try food trucks, smoothies, and farm-to-school recipes. Then make the food free for all students. 

That strategy works in Chicopee, a small city in central Massachusetts, where the local public school district offers at least two free meals daily to nearly 7,000 enrolled public school children. During the school year fresh items from local farms appear regularly on kids’ plates. This summer the “Curbside Cafeteria,” a cheerfully painted aqua food truck, delivered meals at parks around town. 

Chicopee Public Schools has offered free meals for about five years, under a federal government program that allows districts with enough students from low-income families to provide no-cost meals for everyone. Since making meals free, more kids have eaten school food, allowing the district to receive increased funds from federal reimbursement, which they reinvest into programs like the farm-to-school partnerships. 

“It’s such an innovative, fun, different [meal] program” that’s about inclusion and addressing food insecurity, says Melanie Wilk, food service director for Chicopee Public Schools. “We’re really out in the community and trying to make these connections.”

Districts like Chicopee offer a glimpse of what many advocates hope the future of school meals could be coming off the pandemic: fresh, likable, and available to everyone. The goal is to increase food quality and decrease stigma, fueling compassion for students and better learning. Inflation and supply chain issues have complicated those efforts, and critics cite concerns about an increase in food waste and the potential for paying for food for kids who don’t need it. But proponents hope the higher visibility of school meals during the pandemic – with popular grab-and-go sites and federal free meals for all students for more than two years – will propel a national movement toward universal school meals. 

Five states, including Massachusetts, are funding universal free school meals for the 2022-2023 academic year. Two of those states, California and Maine, passed laws making universal free school meals permanent. Colorado residents will vote on creating a free school meals program this November. Federally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ended its pandemic provision of universal free meals after this summer. In most states, students will return to a system of free, reduced-price, or paid meals based on family income. 

Food insecurity concerns

Caring for student well-being is at the top of many supporters’ lists of reasons to provide all kids with meals. “Food insecurity is in every single ZIP code in Massachusetts and every ZIP code in the U.S.,” says Erin McAleer, CEO of Project Bread, a nonprofit hunger-fighting group in Massachusetts that’s leading a coalition advocating for state legislation to make universal school meals permanent.  

“The system that we’ve had since World War II of trying to find out which kids need it and which don’t hasn’t worked. It’s been a broken system for a really long time,” says Ms. McAleer, pointing to data from her organization showing a quarter of kids who are food insecure in Massachusetts don’t qualify for free or reduced lunch meals. 

Courtesy of Chicopee Public Schools Food Service Department

Elementary school students in Chicopee, Massachusetts, taste locally produced fish sticks and vote on whether the item should be added to the menu, in January 2022.

Research on free school meals has shown benefits that include improved nutrition, academic learning, and attendance, as well as fewer referrals for behavioral issues or to the school nurse, says Juliana Cohen, adjunct associate professor of nutrition at Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health and associate professor at Merrimack College School of Health Sciences. 

“We provide textbooks to all children, we provide chairs to all kids, because those are tools that all kids need to learn. And nutritious food is an essential tool that all kids need as well,” says Dr. Cohen. “All kids, especially those from low-income households, are more likely to eat when it becomes the norm.”

Others are concerned over costs, quality, food waste, and blurred roles of families and the state if universal free school meals are expanded. Bringing meals from home might in turn become stigmatized, says Max Eden, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. 

“There is a substantial difference for a child or for anybody when food is provided by a loved one versus provided by a government agency,” says Mr. Eden. “If making lunches at home becomes stigmatized, if your parents do it, then that’s one less expression of love that a mother or father can provide for their child.” 

Some free meal advocates thought that more than two years of universal free school meals during the pandemic could have propelled Congress toward passing federal legislation making the policy permanent, but that has not occurred. 

“We really thought that we might be able to legislate universal school meals nationally and it hasn’t happened,” says Janet Poppendieck, a senior faculty fellow at the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute and author of “Free for All: Fixing School Food in America.” “I think we are back to a community by community and state by state approach.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding school lunches and breakfasts at slightly higher reimbursement rates for the next academic year and is offering some continued pandemic waivers for extra flexibility for school districts. 

“More uncertainty than ever”

Complicating efforts to expand school meals are headwinds like inflation, supply chain disruptions, and labor shortages. A July 2022 report from the School Nutrition Association says the industry faces “epic challenges” unlike anything in the 76 years since the federal government founded the National School Lunch Program. 

“This year there’s more uncertainty than ever that’s being faced by operators of school meal programs,” says Lori Adkins, School Nutrition Association president and child nutrition consultant for Oakland Schools ISD in Michigan. “Since not all kids will eat for free this year, operators are uncertain about demand. We don’t know how many kids will participate in our programs this year. Demand drives everything, the amount of food you need, the labor you need.” 

Ms. Adkins consults with 28 school districts in Michigan and is helping them communicate with families about filling out paperwork again to qualify for free or reduced lunches. She worries some families won’t realize they have to do this after a break of several years and kids will fall through the cracks. She’s also seeing about half the districts she works with raise prices modestly for school meals, due to inflation.

In Chicopee, the cost of gloves for food staff rose from around $14 a case to $120, says Ms. Wilk, the food service director. She switched to less well-fitting but cheaper versions and glove prices are starting to fall, she says. (The manufacturer says the price per case is now about $50.) She’s also relieved that her distributors for the fall are showing more items in-stock than they have in previous months. 

Schools also have to deal with the perennial issue of food waste. A 2019 report by the World Wildlife Fund found that U.S. school food waste amounts to about 530,000 tons per year. The amount of food waste has been used as an argument against universal free school meals. 

Some schools try strategies to address waste like creating a table where kids can leave unopened packaged food for other kids to take. Other helpful steps include scheduling eating time after recess and extending time for school meals, which are often limited to just 15 minutes in which students must pass through the line and consume their food, says Dr. Cohen, the nutrition expert. 

“It helps financially”

On a recent summer day in Chicopee, the Curbside Cafeteria food truck maneuvers into the parking lot at Lincoln Grove park.

A “pizzaboli calzone” headlines the day’s menu, alongside cherry tomatoes and bananas. Earlier in the week locally grown peaches and pickles were featured. 

Joe Fernandes; his wife, Tanya; and their two young daughters are among those picking up summer food. The family lives close by and walks to the park daily to get lunch for the kids and participate in craft activities the district offers. Mr. Fernandes’ first grader also receives school-provided lunch during the academic year, which he says is “a really nice convenience and it helps financially.”

He supports the state’s decision to continue to offer meals. “There are a lot of people who can’t afford it. It’s nice, so that every kid is equal and gets fed.” 

Pramod Zinjade, an activist from Solhapur in Maharashtra state, has been fighting for decades to spread awareness about welfare programs for rural Maharashtrians. But his friend and colleague’s death due to heart failure in 2020 prompted him to add another social item to his agenda – widows. 

Within 15 minutes of lighting his friend’s funeral pyre, Mr. Zinjade heard a commotion where the man’s wife was standing. When he got closer, he saw a group of women breaking her bangles, wiping the sindoor off her forehead, and forcibly removing the mangalsutra – a black beaded necklace that married women wear in Hindu culture – from her neck.

“She was protesting and crying, asking the women to stop. But they didn’t,” recalls Mr. Zinjade. “It was one of the most difficult things to watch, even more than my friend’s burning dead body.” 

Women’s rights activists say the tough-to-shake widowhood rituals are common throughout India – which is home to more than 40 million widows – and stem from patriarchal beliefs that a woman’s value is inherently tied to her husband. Upon his death, she may be subject to a variety of demeaning rituals and social ostracism, barred from wearing colorful clothing and attending religious or family functions. Some activists have called widowhood “a state of social death.”

Abhijeet Gurjar/Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Pramod Zinjade (right), a social activist from Solapur, India, took the initiative to protect his own wife from repressive widow customs and urged village councils to ban the practice. Herwad became the first village to do so on May 1, 2022.

The experience at his friend’s funeral stuck with Mr. Zinjade, who took unprecedented measures to protect his own wife from widowhood rituals and also pushed nearby village councils to outlaw them altogether. This year, Herwad became the first village in the state to prohibit widowhood rituals, followed by others. The bans have also caught the attention of the Maharashtra state government, with officials now considering making it a statewide policy.

Harish Sadani, executive director and co-founder of Mumbai-based organization Men Against Violence and Abuse, says the developments in Maharashtra underscore the importance of compassion and allyship.

“What Herwad did was a positive step in the right direction,” he says, “but for that change to have a far-reaching impact, it is necessary to engage and educate young boys and men about gender equality. They must not only encourage life of dignity for widows, but also their autonomy on other matters.” 

Leading by example

After his friend’s funeral, Mr. Zinjade drafted an affidavit giving his wife the right to file a complaint against anyone who forced these rituals upon her in the event of his death. 

“The block officer had never seen anyone make such a request. The clerk even refused to type the document and laughed at me, asking me to seek psychiatric help,” he says. But after a couple of minor tweaks, the officer signed off on the affidavit.

Mr. Zinjade, who is known for his social work across Maharashtra region, also called on his network of village heads to abolish widowhood rituals in their respective villages. He shared his proposal broadly on WhatsApp. 

“Within 10 days, I heard back from hundreds of village heads,” he says.

Abhijeet Gurjar/Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Herwad village head Surgondha Patil (center) and social activist Pramod Zinjade (second from left) strategize with other council members in front of the village council office in Herwad, India.

Herwad, a village of about 7,000 in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, became the first to officially strike down the rituals on May 1. Leaders say the village was already taking steps to integrate widows back into society, and the resolution passed unanimously.

“A lot of women became widows in our village during the second wave of COVID,” says Surgondha Patil, Herwad village’s head. “They were all forced to go through discrimination in the name of widowhood rituals. So when Pramod ji [Mr. Zinjade] came up with a concrete plan of action, we decided to seal the deal.” 

The village dispatched a team of volunteer social workers to build awareness about the new law and encourage families to break the cycle of widow rituals. 

Village council member Seema Varghele was among the legion of workers urging villagers to shed their age-old beliefs. She says it’s important that people put themselves in widows’ shoes, and consider the women’s safety as they grapple with this major life change.

“She will now have to be the breadwinner for her family,” she explains. “How will she leave the house if other men look at her as if she is available? These visual markers of marriage help her protect herself and also keep the memories of her dead husband close to her heart.”

Abhijeet Gurjar/Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Shakira Jamadar, a young widow, works in a local garment factory to support her children and in-laws. Advocates of banning widow customs say it’s important that people put themselves in these women’s shoes as they grapple with this major life change.

Rewarding a shift in mindset

Following Herwad’s steps, the nearby village of Mangaon not only banned the widowhood practices, but is also starting to reward those who abandon the tradition. 

Its village council head, Raju Magdum, has established an incentive program in which “anyone who does not indulge in these practices will be exempted from paying property and water tax for one year.”

That’s on top of a cash payment of 5,000 Indian rupees ($63) for people who forgo widowhood rituals, or 50,000 Indian rupees ($630) for families who help a widow remarry. 

Prajakta Santosh Pawar, who lost her husband just days after the resolution was passed, says she was initially worried that she’d have to go through similar humiliation as many others before her. 

“I remember my sister-in-law passed out from grief when her husband died and the women were clawing at her to remove all her ornaments,” she says.

But the village council intervened, informing the family about the ban as well as the cash incentives. Mrs. Pawar’s family agreed to give up the practice and became the first beneficiaries of Mangaon’s incentive program on Aug. 15.

Mrs. Pawar, who still wears her sindoor and mangalsutra, says she’s grateful to those who campaigned for change. 

While the historic step taken by these villages was lauded by many, not everyone agrees these customs are inherently harmful.

Abhijeet Gurjar/Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Sujata Rangrao Fakke, a young widow from Herwad, says no one came to her house to perform the widowhood rituals last year due to COVID-19 restrictions on social gatherings, so she removed the ornaments herself.

Sujata Rangrao Fakke from Herwad lost her husband during the second wave of COVID-19 last year. No one came to her house to perform the rituals due to restrictions on social gatherings, so she removed the ornaments herself.

“What is the point of wearing all these things when my husband is no longer there? It only brings painful memories,” she says. 

Statewide ban

At the state level, officials say they applaud the decisions in Herwad and Mangaon, and are open to banning widowhood customs across Maharashtra. But they want more villages to build awareness about the practice and change local mindsets first. 

“It is not a woman’s fault that she lost her husband,” says Maharashtra’s rural development and labour minister, Hasan Mushrif. “These beliefs should not have any place in a modern society. But the practices that have been around for centuries cannot be uprooted in a short period of time.”

To encourage the others to follow the Herwad model, Mr. Mushrif issued a government circular to 28,000 villages requesting them to ban the rituals. He says 90% of the village heads have agreed to do so, though there are no legal ramifications if they fail to follow through. 

While some say the progress in Herwad and Mangaon should be enough evidence to support a broader law, Mr. Mushrif says that a premature statewide ban could do more harm than good.

“Change must happen at the grassroots level for it to be sustainable and effective,” he says. 

Mr. Zinjade, who spearheaded the movement, believes a state ban alone will not be enough. He proposes a series of measures to make it legally enforceable, including penalties for villagers who participate or fail to intervene in widowhood rituals.

But in the communities seeking to end the practice, even incremental progress has been received favorably, especially by widows who feel this change ushers in a new era.

“When my husband died nine years ago, I had to go through all these rituals,” says Nandatai Ashok Gaikwad, a widow in Herwad. “I cannot even tell you the pain and humiliation I felt at that time. I couldn’t do anything to stop it. But with this new ruling, we are hopeful that the widows can regain their respect and safety, even without their husbands.”

This week’s U.S. Open might be the last time we see Serena Williams play tennis. She says in her farewell announcement in Vogue that she doesn’t like the word retirement, but it’s clear that her “evolution,” as she calls it, will take her away from the game, at least competitively.

She is scheduled to play the first match of her final tournament this evening in Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is fitting, because the two of them are arguably the most important Black people the sport has ever seen. In fact, by virtue of what they mean on and off the court, they rank among the most important tennis players of any race.

I express reverence for them in different ways. I see Mr. Ashe as more of a mentor – the civil rights activist, the historian, the champion. Ms. Williams is more of a peer – the successful upperclassman who went on to do amazing things.

I was a senior in high school in South Carolina when the crowd at the 2001 Indian Wells tournament mercilessly booed 19-year-old Serena, displaying its suspicion that Venus Williams’ last-minute, injury-related withdrawal from the sisters’ semifinal match was a setup. Serena went on to win the tournament – and to boycott Indian Wells for over a decade. 

In advance of her next competition there 14 years later, she wrote in Time that she and her family had been “haunted” by the earlier experience. Looking back at that incident and recalling being the only Black child in many of my classes at the time, I’m reminded that feeling unwelcome can mold a young person’s sense of being. Now that I’m a father of two, thinking of a teenager bearing the brunt of adults’ anger fills me with rage and sorrow.

But Ms. Williams persevered in the way that Black people do in this country – giving our all while too often being treated as foreigners. She grew up in the shadow of her older sister Venus and her determined father, “King” Richard, only to surpass them both en route to 23 Grand Slam singles titles, among numerous other wins. 

The mark of greatness, however, is when a person’s accomplishments transcend their field of expertise. Ms. Williams has been outspoken with regard to women’s rights, whether about gender inequality in pay or her own difficulties in childbirth.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women in the United States are “three times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related cause than White women.” Referring to that data, Ms. Williams says about Black women in a CNN opinion piece, “before they even bring a new life into this world, the cards are already stacked against them.” 

AP/File

This Aug. 1, 1963, photo shows Arthur Ashe as a student at UCLA. Among his many accomplishments, he was the first African American named to the U.S. Davis Cup squad, which he captained for three years.

In too many ways, the metaphor of a stacked deck represents the larger Black experience in America. Ms. Williams grew up in Compton, California, a place better known to many for its crime than for its celebrities. Yet even with its reputation of gang activity, Compton has nurtured the likes of the Williams sisters, Dr. Dre, and Kendrick Lamar.

I fondly remember, more than a decade after the ugly scene at Indian Wells, when Serena represented the U.S. at the 2012 Olympics in London. After she dominated Maria Sharapova to win the singles gold medal, she paid homage to her roots with a dance called the C-walk. (The C stands for Crip, the name of a gang.) Ms. Williams was criticized for the dance’s gang-related origins, but she knew better. And so did I. There’s no shame in claiming where you’re from.

It is irresponsible and ill-advised to distill people in a way that disregards their heritage. That’s one of the primary problems we have in this country now, and more often than not, when we engage in this behavior, it hurts Black people. Or, as a popular saying goes regarding white people’s selective interest in the Black experience: “They want our rhythm, but not our blues.”

As Ms. Williams acknowledges in her announcement in Vogue, her attitude and sense of self demand the best in all she attempts, even as a fashion icon. Where some might dismiss her as a diva, I contend that her pursuit of excellence raised the sport and demanded accountability. Even though her challenges to a judge at the 2018 U.S. Open cost her a game, they were justified, in my view, because she knew she hadn’t been given the respect she was due.

Ms. Williams will undoubtedly receive her flowers this week. She will be cascaded with kind words and baubles in a sport and culture that can still be unwelcoming at times. She will stand as both recipient and descendant of two civil rights champions – Mr. Ashe’s tireless demand for Black dignity and Billie Jean King’s pursuit for female equality and equity. She will do these things with the grace, power, and swagger that have defined her career. 

I, for one, will enjoy Ms. Williams’ victory lap. I see her as both peer and peerless. She is among the best this country has to offer – bold, beautiful, Black. And while I will miss her on the court, I understand that her legacy goes far beyond grass and clay.

Reuters

Women leave a Luckin Coffee shop in Beijing. The chain's lies about its revenue iin 2019 helped lead to a U.S.-China pact on auditing of Chinese firms on U.S. financial markets.

Despite a global spread of disinformation, democracies still rely on the ability of their people to discern the truth – and to use it wisely. That spirit lies behind an agreement, forged by the United States with China last week, to ensure that Chinese companies listed on U.S. capital markets are honest about their financial data – even if their government in Beijing remains a secretive autocracy.

The U.S. was able to wrestle China into allowing American regulators to check the audits – and auditors – of Chinese enterprises whose stock is traded on Wall Street. The first on-site investigations of U.S.-listed companies start in mid-September. In a sign of how difficult it is for Beijing to tolerate transparency, five Chinese state-owned enterprises recently withdrew from the New York Stock Exchange.

Home to the world’s deepest, most liquid capital markets, the U.S. learned the hard way that discerning investors want open books on corporations, not cooked books. The 2002 corporate scandals at Enron and WorldCom, which led to the fall of accounting firm Arthur Andersen, resulted in reforms that require the inspection of the audit firms of U.S.-listed companies. More than 50 countries have complied with the reform.

China, along with Hong Kong, were the final holdouts. In 2019, after Chinese chain Luckin Coffee Inc., which was listed on Nasdaq, was found to have lied about its revenue, the U.S. decided to demand audit access to similar Chinese firms.

More than 200 Chinese companies are listed on U.S. stock exchanges. Failure to comply with the new U.S. scrutiny would result in them being delisted, depriving China of access to critical investment and the American economy.

The U.S. worries, however, that China’s ruling Communist Party, which keeps close tabs on large Chinese companies, might try to block the U.S. auditor watchdog – the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board – from certain types of corporate information. “The proof will be in the pudding,” said Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler.

For years, China’s government has struggled with transparency in its official statistics. “The problem of statistical data fraud is still relatively prominent,” China’s National Bureau of Statistics admitted in March. The government has bowed to investors in the country’s financial markets with some reforms that require accurate financial data in Chinese companies. But skepticism remains high about the degree of transparency.

Democracy may be far off in China. But a democratic spirit – in which citizens seek honest data about investments – is driving Beijing toward institutional integrity, starting with truth in data.