Serena Williams, the legendary tennis champion, found herself at the center of a storm when she posted a video on social media, sharing her discomfort with seeing a cotton plant used as decoration in a New York City hotel. The video, which quickly went viral, showed Williams plucking a cotton ball from the plant and expressing unease over its use as an aesthetic object. For many, her comments sparked debates about race, history, and cultural sensitivity.

In the video, Williams asked her followers, particularly black people, if they also felt uneasy when encountering cotton in such a context. She explained that, as a Black person, the sight of cotton as a decoration felt unsettling due to its historical ties to slavery, where African Americans were forced to work in cotton fields under brutal conditions. To Williams, this seemingly innocuous decoration carried a deep, painful history that many, especially Black Americans, could not simply ignore.

Her comments were met with a mix of support and criticism. While some resonated with her sentiments, others dismissed her discomfort as excessive, particularly given Williams’ immense wealth and success. Critics, including Megyn Kelly, a prominent TV personality, voiced their disbelief. Kelly sarcastically mocked Williams, pointing out that as a millionaire, Williams was far removed from the era of cotton picking. She seemed to suggest that Williams’ feelings were out of touch with the reality of modern-day life and trivial in comparison to the bigger issues people face.

“How can you be triggered by a cotton plant when you’ve never picked cotton?” Kelly remarked, downplaying the emotional weight of the history Williams was trying to address. She also pointed out the irony of Williams being wealthy, implying that her financial success somehow negated her right to feel discomfort about the symbol of oppression that cotton represented.

However, what many failed to grasp was the significance of generational trauma—a concept that Williams wasn’t just expressing discomfort over but also inviting others to reflect upon. It’s essential to understand that trauma, especially historical trauma like that caused by slavery, is passed down through generations. Even though Serena Williams may not have directly picked cotton herself, the legacy of slavery and the forced labor of African Americans in cotton fields is part of her ancestral history. Her reaction to the cotton plant was not just about the plant itself but about the painful symbolism it carries.

The debate deepened when Page Six published an article revealing that Williams and her husband, tech mogul Alex Ohanian, owned a sculpture titled “Monument for a Promise,” which depicted a donkey carrying a trunk over a mound of cotton. Critics of Williams quickly seized upon this, accusing her of hypocrisy for owning a piece of art that incorporated cotton while publicly expressing discomfort with cotton in a hotel.

In defense of his wife, Ohanian dismissed the criticism, emphasizing that the cotton in the artwork was symbolic and part of a deeper narrative about history, resilience, and unfulfilled promises made to Black Americans. He argued that using cotton in art to confront and reflect on the legacy of slavery is a far cry from using it as mere decoration without any historical context or acknowledgment.

While some continue to argue whether it’s hypocritical for Williams to own such a piece while being bothered by cotton used in a hotel, others defend her right to feel discomfort in different contexts. Context matters, and the cotton plant in the hotel was a neutral, decorative item that lacked the deeper reflection and symbolism found in the artwork. The hotel decoration seemed to trivialize the painful history, whereas the art piece was intentionally designed to provoke thought and discussion about the historical and ongoing struggles faced by Black Americans.

Serena Williams’ discomfort with the cotton plant is not an attack on the plant itself but a call for awareness and sensitivity. Just as people reflect on painful chapters of history, including the Holocaust or the American Revolution, Black Americans cannot simply forget the trauma of slavery, even if it happened centuries ago. The ongoing effects of systemic racism and inequality remain, making it impossible for many to disassociate from the painful history tied to symbols like cotton.

Megan Kelly’s response, however, misses this crucial point. Dismissing someone’s feelings, especially when they are tied to their racial and cultural identity, is not just insensitive but ignorant. It’s easy to overlook history when you haven’t experienced its impacts firsthand. But for Serena Williams, and countless other Black people, the discomfort surrounding the cotton plant isn’t about one’s personal wealth or success—it’s about a history of suffering and oppression that still echoes today.

As the debate rages on, one thing remains clear: Serena Williams is fully entitled to feel how she feels, regardless of her wealth or fame. Her experience as a Black woman in America is valid, and her right to express discomfort over something so deeply tied to the painful history of her ancestors should not be trivialized. The discussion about cotton—whether as a decoration in a hotel lobby or as a piece of art—highlights the complex relationship between race, history, and cultural symbols.

Serena Williams, like many others, is forced to navigate a world that may not always understand the emotional weight of certain symbols. But by speaking out, she continues to challenge others to think more critically about the lasting impact of history on the present. And perhaps, just maybe, it’s time for everyone to consider the real history behind the cotton plant before deciding whether or not it should be used as decoration.