As a kid, I can remember having mixed feelings about Devil's Night (the night before Halloween in Detroit ... look it up).
It was right around the time of my birthday, so I usually kept the birthday celebration going -- through Devil's Night, Oct. 30, and then Halloween, Oct. 31.
So, when I had the chance to write my latest short novel, I had a real event that provided the perfect setting for a story about adversity, love, pain, race, violence and more.
Check out my latest short novel (I am saving the longer, better ones for the possibility of traditional publishing (it could be a long shot, but I am gong to hang onto that hope).
Not much to add here other than that I enjoyed watching a mayor from my home state crush a Fox News right-wing slappy making advancing weak Republican talking points.
Fab Five: Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Ray Jackson and Juwan Howard
At long last, Duke University men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski has made his comment to former University of Michigan star Jalen Rose's comments regarding the program he has built.
From an article published on the ESPN website: Rose, as part of an ESPN Films documentary "The Fab Five" that aired March 13 (Rose was an executive producer), said black Blue Devils basketball players recruited in the early 1990s were "Uncle Toms."
"I hated Duke and I hated everything Duke stood for. Schools like Duke didn't recruit players like me. I felt like they only recruited black players that were Uncle Toms," Rose said in the documentary.
Rose's comments, obviously, have touched off a firestorm of controversy that just continues to boil over in the media and in the world of blogs.
Krzyzewski has finally decided to respond.
"Obviously, that was a poor choice of words and very insulting to everyone here at Duke but especially, not just our African-American players, but any African-American students," Krzyzewski said on "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000 in Chicago Tuesday. "When you judge within a race, you start judging, like you put categories as to who you are. I think that's just the wrong thing to do."
Krzyzewski said one of the Fab Five could have ended up at Duke.
"We were very successful against them and, to be quite frank with you, we recruited Chris Webber," he said. "I didn't recruit Jalen Rose because we had Grant Hill and I'm happy with that. We didn't look at the other, Juwan Howard [because] we knew he wasn't going to come to Duke. The other two kids we didn't think were the caliber that could play as well as Thomas Hill and Brian Davis and Billy McCaffery. They're good kids. They were good kids."
Some of what Krzyzewski says is probably fair. I still don't think there is any way he would have recruited a player like Jalen, but Krzyzewski seems to suggest that he would have (if not for Hill already being on the roster). Krzyzewski also suggests Juwan Howard might have been an option, but he would not have chosen to go to Duke. He also seems to indicate that he didn't think Jimmy King and Ray Jackson were of the caliber of the players he already had in his program.
If Krzyzewski doesn't recruit players then doesn't help perpetuate the stereotype of Duke ignoring certain types of black players?
Webber was from Detroit, but he was attending the exclusive Detroit Country Day School.
Here is a little shot Coach K takes at the Fab Five:
"They had a heck of a run but, they didn't leave anything, they didn't establish anything there," Krzyzewski said. "The guys that I had established something that Jay Williams continued to do 10 years later -- the standards of what it meant to be a Duke basketball player."
I bet more people remember that Chris Webber and Jalen Rose played at Michigan than remember Brian Davis, Thomas Hill and Billy McCaffery (who went on to blossom as a player after he left Duke). Like so many people, Mike hates (to some extent) on the legacy left by the Fab Five.
There may be some truth to that, but only because of the sanctions and scandals. Krzyzewski got his shot in and he definitely has a lot to brag about with the success he has had as a head coach. But, the defensive nature of his comments still suggests some validity to the statements.
The $1.2 million project to raise funds for a permanent home for The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, located at Ferris State University in Big Rapids (Mich.), is a critically-important and ongoing mission.
The important lessons taught in the Jim Crow Museum, lessons that help the people of today learn from the painful lessons of the path, is becoming increasingly important. Many of the authentic objects (many from our past, but some from our present) in the museum will shake you up, make angry, make you cry and/or make you think. The Jim Crow Museum creates important and powerful conversations that help young people and old people, people of all races as well as males and females have open, honest and oftentimes frank discussions about race and racism in our society.
The powerful lessons learned by so many people who visit the museum, and learn the lessons the museum aims to teach, find their lives enriched by such an experience. Many times, these lessons are life-changing ones.
I can only imagine how my dad, who was from the South before he moved to the North as part of a great migration of blacks seeking jobs and a better way of life, would feel about these images.
My visit to the museum (as part of a Jim Crow class I was taking) was a powerful reminder of how racism creeps its way into every day lives in a stealth-like fashion. The racism we see every day, and oftentimes do not confront, goes unnoticed until we see it from a particular perspective.
The museum opens minds and hearts while encouraging all of us to critically think about imagery and language we see and use every day (language and imagery that is perhaps offensive in ways we struggle to comprehend).
Check out this video on the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia:
The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia is in the news. Below are a few samples:
The Detroit News Howell’s ‘Hateful Things’ Exhibit Tramples Racial Stereotypes (Jan. 11, 2006)
Detroit News Exhibition on Racism Stuns Visitors (Jan. 17, 2006)
