Uncle Tom

Okay, let’s get into this Uncle Tom debate…

Here’s a little background: ESPN has a series of documentaries called 30 for 30. As part of that series, they did a documentary on University of Michigan’s Fab Five. Fab Five referring to the five freshman (Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard and Ray Jackson) from the ’91-’92 and ’92-’93 seasons.

During the documentary, Jalen Rose speaks on his feelings about Duke and its Black basketball players. Instead of me trying to paraphrase his comments, let’s go to the tape…

Since the airing of the documentary, Jalen has caught some heat for what he said. As most Blacks know, if you call someone an Uncle Tom, you’re liable to get punched in the mouth! I wouldn’t be surprised if the next day there were reports of Grant Hill waiting outside of the ESPN studios, waiting to have a word or two with Mr. Rose. Instead, Grant took the high road and penned this response:

I am a fan, friend and longtime competitor of the Fab Five. I have competed against Jalen Rose and Chris Webber since the age of 13. At Michigan, the Fab Five represented a cultural phenomenon that impacted the country in a permanent and positive way. The very idea of the Fab Five elicited pride and promise in much the same way the Georgetown teams did in the mid-1980s when I was in high school and idolized them. Their journey from youthful icons to successful men today is a road map for so many young, black men (and women) who saw their journey through the powerful documentary, “The Fab Five.”

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.

To hint that those who grew up in a household with a mother and father are somehow less black than those who did not is beyond ridiculous. All of us are extremely proud of the current Duke team, especially Nolan Smith. He was raised by his mother, plays in memory of his late father and carries himself with the pride and confidence that they instilled in him.

The sacrifice, the effort, the education and the friendships I experienced in my four years are cherished. The many Duke graduates I have met around the world are also my “family,” and they are a special group of people. A good education is a privilege.

Just as Jalen has founded a charter school in Michigan, we are expected to use our education to help others, to improve life for those who need our assistance and to use the excellent education we have received to better the world.

A highlight of my time at Duke was getting to know the great John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor of History and the leading scholar of the last century on the total history of African-Americans in this country. His insights and perspectives contributed significantly to my overall development and helped me understand myself, my forefathers and my place in the world.

Ad ingenium faciendum, toward the building of character, is a phrase I recently heard. To me, it is the essence of an educational experience. Struggling, succeeding, trying again and having fun within a nurturing but competitive environment built character in all of us, including every black graduate of Duke.

My mother always says, “You can live without Chaucer and you can live without calculus, but you cannot make it in the wide, wide world without common sense.” As we get older, we understand the importance of these words. Adulthood is nothing but a series of choices: you can say yes or no, but you cannot avoid saying one or the other. In the end, those who are successful are those who adjust and adapt to the decisions they have made and make the best of them.

I caution my fabulous five friends to avoid stereotyping me and others they do not know in much the same way so many people stereotyped them back then for their appearance and swagger. I wish for you the restoration of the bond that made you friends, brothers and icons.

I am proud of my family. I am proud of my Duke championships and all my Duke teammates. And, I am proud I never lost a game against the Fab Five.

Grant Henry Hill
Phoenix Suns
Duke ‘94

That was a nice little Fab Five jab he threw in there at the end!

Here’s a well spoken response to the situation:

Okay, here’s my two cents…

As a product of DC Public Schools and a HBCU, I can see where Jalen was coming from. I fully understand his anger, his resentment, his jealousy, his feelings of inadequacy. I am sure I would’ve felt the same way…..at 17-18 years old. Those were the thoughts of an inner city kid that didn’t know any better. Keep in mind all Jalen’s comments were past tense.

Jalen and I have a lot in common. We are the same age. We both played sports. We were both raised by a single parent. And we both had absentee father issues. A Black male child in those circumstances can’t help but feel jealousy and inadequacy when looking at his peers that grew up in “better” circumstances. So to deal with those negative feelings, the “lesser” kid tries to belittle and down talk what he perceives to be the forces keeping him in his situation.

Now fast forward 20 years. I’ve got kids in private school. If Jalen has kids, I am sure they are in private school as well. In fact, Jalen ‘s foundation has started a school in Detroit. A charter school, I believe. Anyway, I no longer have those feelings of inadequacy, the feeling of jealousy, the resentment, the anger. I can now understand what kind of program Duke is trying to run. Duke wants the cream of the crop. And I can appreciate that. Far too often we hear about student athletes running afoul of the law; doing dumb shit like smacking up their girlfriends, selling their championship rings, selling drugs, breaking and entering dorms, etc. You name it, “we” have done it. Niggas will find a way to bring the hood to whatever environment they are in!

But getting back to Jalen’s comments. I think folks are taking what he said waaaaay out of context. Again, he spoke in the past tense. Let’s take a look at how he feels now:

I think we need to cut Mr. Rose some slack and move on to more important topics. At the time, that man-child felt like Duke recruited Uncle Toms aka Blacks that are subservient to Whites. In Jalen’s eyes…and the eyes of much of the inner city Black kids, Duke players didn’t have the same swagger as the Fab Five. Duke players were corny. They were a group of suckers. The Fab Five had hip-hop flavor. They went against the grain. They “fought the power” and looked good doing it.

But in hindsight, we now know that Duke is an elite private institution and they can afford to be very selective in who they allow to represent their school. Duke has an image to uphold…and I aint mad at that. Neither is Jalen Rose.