By now, everyone who cares knows about the Fab Five documentary on ESPN, produced by Jalen Rose. This was one of the most starkly honest documentaries I have seen in the sports world. With honesty, of course, comes controversy.
Jalen Rose said in the documentary that, at the time, he hated Duke because Duke didn't recruit "his" people. He felt that they recruited Uncle Toms, and cited Grant Hill's family as an example. Predictably, the MSM and most of the blogosphere has gone bonkers. Columnists with superficial knowledege and questionable attitudes about race treated the statements as though he still felt that way.
Many columnists wrote variattions of "let it go, Jalen." But they are missing one huge point:
Jalen didn't say he feels that way now. He said he felt that way then. The Fab Five were freshmen. They were 18 years old. I don't know about you, but I have changed a lot since I was that age. I still have the same social consciousness in a lot of ways, but the judgementalism and anger have certainly been diminished.
I am pretty sure that anyone who slammed Jalen for being honest about how he felt when he was 18 would be utterly embarassed if he were held responsible for his opinions and actions at that age.
There are a lot of people who need to "let it go," but Jalen Rose isn't one of them.
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