OK Grant and Jalen, enough already. Grant, did you really have to write a response (in the New York Times of all places) to Jalen's comments? Come on brother, methinks you are a bit too sensitive.
"..it was a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events, therefore, to see friends narrating this interesting documentary about their moment in time and calling me a bitch and worse, calling all black players at Duke “Uncle Toms” and, to some degree, disparaging my parents for their education, work ethic and commitment to each other and to me. I should have guessed there was something regrettable in the documentary when I received a Twitter apology from Jalen before its premiere. I am aware Jalen has gone to some length to explain his remarks about my family in numerous interviews, so I believe he has some admiration for them.
In his garbled but sweeping comment that Duke recruits only “black players that were ‘Uncle Toms,’ ” Jalen seems to change the usual meaning of those very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., blacks from two-parent, middle-class families. He leaves us all guessing exactly what he believes today.
I am beyond fortunate to have two parents who are still working well into their 60s. They received great educations and use them every day. My parents taught me a personal ethic I try to live by and pass on to my children.
I come from a strong legacy of black Americans. My namesake, Henry Hill, my father’s father, was a day laborer in Baltimore. He could not read or write until he was taught to do so by my grandmother. His first present to my dad was a set of encyclopedias, which I now have. He wanted his only child, my father, to have a good education, so he made numerous sacrifices to see that he got an education, including attending Yale.
This is part of our great tradition as black Americans. We aspire for the best or better for our children and work hard to make that happen for them. Jalen’s mother is part of our great black tradition and made the same sacrifices for him.
My teammates at Duke — all of them, black and white — were a band of brothers who came together to play at the highest level for the best coach in basketball. I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.
It is insulting and ignorant to suggest that men like Johnny Dawkins (coach at Stanford), Tommy Amaker (coach at Harvard), Billy King (general manager of the Nets), Tony Lang (coach of the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan), Thomas Hill (small-business owner in Texas), Jeff Capel (former coach at Oklahoma and Virginia Commonwealth), Kenny Blakeney (assistant coach at Harvard), Jay Williams (ESPN analyst), Shane Battier (Memphis Grizzlies) and Chris Duhon (Orlando Magic) ever sold out their race." [Article]
Grant, I am going to have to disagree with one person on your list: Billy King. I will leave it at that. But those of you from Philly will know what I am talking about... Still, we get it, you had to defend your family's honor. You also had to defend yourself against accusations of jigging your way through Duke. I defended you last night, (BTW, in that article I referred to Hubert Davis as a Dukie. To all of you Tar heel fans out there, I offer my sincerest apology.) but I cannot defend your response. The whole New York Times thing kind of feels like overkill. I sure hope Coach K didn't give you a call and asked you to pen something. After all, it's not good for recruiting to have even well "polished" young men thinking twice about your school because other folks in their community view it in a negative light.
Finally, I see that a republiclown up in New York has a great idea about how to get you Negroes working again:
"BUFFALO – Jack Davis a congressional candidate caused controversy by saying that Latinos should be deported and African Americans should be bused to farms to pick crops.
Buffalo News reports:
Several sources who were in the Feb. 20 endorsement interview with Davis confirmed his comments, which echo those he made to the Tonawanda News in 2008, when he said: “We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work.”' [Source]
"..it was a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events, therefore, to see friends narrating this interesting documentary about their moment in time and calling me a bitch and worse, calling all black players at Duke “Uncle Toms” and, to some degree, disparaging my parents for their education, work ethic and commitment to each other and to me. I should have guessed there was something regrettable in the documentary when I received a Twitter apology from Jalen before its premiere. I am aware Jalen has gone to some length to explain his remarks about my family in numerous interviews, so I believe he has some admiration for them.
In his garbled but sweeping comment that Duke recruits only “black players that were ‘Uncle Toms,’ ” Jalen seems to change the usual meaning of those very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., blacks from two-parent, middle-class families. He leaves us all guessing exactly what he believes today.
I am beyond fortunate to have two parents who are still working well into their 60s. They received great educations and use them every day. My parents taught me a personal ethic I try to live by and pass on to my children.
I come from a strong legacy of black Americans. My namesake, Henry Hill, my father’s father, was a day laborer in Baltimore. He could not read or write until he was taught to do so by my grandmother. His first present to my dad was a set of encyclopedias, which I now have. He wanted his only child, my father, to have a good education, so he made numerous sacrifices to see that he got an education, including attending Yale.
This is part of our great tradition as black Americans. We aspire for the best or better for our children and work hard to make that happen for them. Jalen’s mother is part of our great black tradition and made the same sacrifices for him.
My teammates at Duke — all of them, black and white — were a band of brothers who came together to play at the highest level for the best coach in basketball. I know most of the black players who preceded and followed me at Duke. They all contribute to our tradition of excellence on the court.
It is insulting and ignorant to suggest that men like Johnny Dawkins (coach at Stanford), Tommy Amaker (coach at Harvard), Billy King (general manager of the Nets), Tony Lang (coach of the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan), Thomas Hill (small-business owner in Texas), Jeff Capel (former coach at Oklahoma and Virginia Commonwealth), Kenny Blakeney (assistant coach at Harvard), Jay Williams (ESPN analyst), Shane Battier (Memphis Grizzlies) and Chris Duhon (Orlando Magic) ever sold out their race." [Article]
Grant, I am going to have to disagree with one person on your list: Billy King. I will leave it at that. But those of you from Philly will know what I am talking about... Still, we get it, you had to defend your family's honor. You also had to defend yourself against accusations of jigging your way through Duke. I defended you last night, (BTW, in that article I referred to Hubert Davis as a Dukie. To all of you Tar heel fans out there, I offer my sincerest apology.) but I cannot defend your response. The whole New York Times thing kind of feels like overkill. I sure hope Coach K didn't give you a call and asked you to pen something. After all, it's not good for recruiting to have even well "polished" young men thinking twice about your school because other folks in their community view it in a negative light.
Finally, I see that a republiclown up in New York has a great idea about how to get you Negroes working again:
"BUFFALO – Jack Davis a congressional candidate caused controversy by saying that Latinos should be deported and African Americans should be bused to farms to pick crops.
Buffalo News reports:
Several sources who were in the Feb. 20 endorsement interview with Davis confirmed his comments, which echo those he made to the Tonawanda News in 2008, when he said: “We have a huge unemployment problem with black youth in our cities. Put them on buses, take them out there [to the farms] and pay them a decent wage; they will work.”' [Source]
Of course they will Mr. Davis. It's not like we aren't going to pay them this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment