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Matt Motyka/Chicagoist
I want to emphatically state, now and forever, that Derrick Rose is anti-gang, anti-drug and anti-violence. I am not, nor have I ever been, affiliated with any gang, and I can't speak loudly enough against gang violence and the things that gangs represent.This photo was taken at a party I attended in Memphis while I was in school there, and was meant as a joke ... a bad one, I now admit. In posing for this picture, I am guilty of being young, naive and of using extremely poor judgment. I sincerely apologize to all my fans for my mistake.
There's certainly been no shortage of young people making stupid mistakes that are caught on camera. Granted, some are more egregious than others.
We know several readers disagree with us, but we're going to give Rose the benefit of the doubt here. Not because what he did was okay. Because it's not. Whether he wants to admit it or not, Rose is a role model to kids, particularly to ones in his old Englewood neighborhood, the same neighborhood where last week a Chicago Police officer was killed in the line of duty. To do anything glamorizing the gang lifestyle is atrocious and Rose is now suffering the consequences of his action. But we're also willing to see this in its context: a young man in college at a party doing something stupid. Dig around on the Facebook pages of staff members of Chicagoist and you'll find plenty of embarrassing pictures. None of us are nearly as high-profile as Rose, but my point is: he's human. He's also young, only 21 years old. Here's hoping that he'll learn from this mistake and rededicate himself to being that role model he is and maybe even some charity work. There are plenty of kids in his old neighborhood who would love to see him.
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I'm giving Rose the benefit of the doubt because of all the white kids from the suburbs I've seen in photos flashing gang signs, real or made up. I'm sure some readers of Chicagoist, in their most drunken high school moments, have done the same thing.
I'm with you 100%, Marcus. Rose wasn't even a role model when he did this ... he was just some unknown college kid having his picture taken with no idea he'd someday be a minor celebrity. He was doing the same sort of thing every kid does these days. And the thing is, he came clean and admitted the mistake without any attempt at equivocation. You have to respect that in this age.
I really dread what media will do with political elections in 20 or 30 years. You won't be able to find a candidate for any office without some drunken photo floating around the internet.
Seriously. Thanks to facebook we're gonna have lots of little glimpses into the lives of all future politicians, doctors, lawyers, teachers....
First off, I don't think it's a huge deal and as you point out, he was an 18-year-old kid when he did this, but to say he was "just some unknown college kid having his picture taken with no idea he'd someday be a minor celebrity" isn't true. He was the top high-school prospect in the country, and everybody (himself included) knew he was heading to the NBA after his freshman year. It's probably unfair to say that he should know BETTER thank other kids the same age, but he wasn't unknown.
The bottom line is that when you're in the public eye, there will always be somebody with a camera phone waiting to pounce on you, fair or not.
but at the same time, what can we expect from any 18 year old regardless of them being in the public eye?
It's like that video i linked to in yesterday's post, the white girls flashing gang signs. You know one of those is a Senator's daughter or the niece of a big university dean or something. But there's no outrage or investigation into that trend, it's just considered a bunch of teenagers being stupid. make no mistake, I'm not excusing Rose, but yeah, we need to consider the context.
He's black, he's from a bad neighborhood in Chicago known for gangs, so clearly he's in a gang.
Well said, Marcus.
In the current era of "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" non-apologies, this guy makes a sincere one. Good for him.
I was pleasantly surprised by that, too. Normally, these kinds of released statements are bare-minimum and vague.
I'll bet he wrote that statement himself, without any assistance from Bulls front office people or his agent.
Heh. To be honest, I'm curious about the original statement by the Bulls. Sure, as we're talking about, it's not a huge deal in the scheme of things - Carmelo Anthony appearing on that "Stop Snitchin'" DVD was a tad more egregious in my opinion - but I've been looking for the original response by the Bulls that the Trib referenced where they say they were unconcerned. I'd be curious to see if the statement was dismissive or if it was more nuanced and we just don't see that with no direct quote.
That's a genuine apology, because Rose upholds the vain-asshole tradition common amongst NBA athletes that one must refer to themselves in the third person (also popular with country music singers).
The other factor many people forget is that these kids who are being groomed for a professional athletic career are trained as early as high school about abstaining from public displays of behavior that can damage their image (drugs, pregnancy, reckless behavior). It's not like these kids are completely clueless. Kids like Rose are only 16 when they start hearing that they have to watch themselves carefully if they're going to pursue a professional sports career.
Thank God all my young-and-dumb shit was through before the Internet even existed.
Rose needs to answer for this...why is he wearing a Red Sox hat?
Again, you "folks" act like this action took place in a vacuum, thousands of kids in urban communities see yet another sign that Gang banging is "what’s hood".
It’s just like the basketball appearing on a stop snitching you tub video in Baltimore, a city where witnesses have been killed for snitching
That was Carmelo Anthony as I said above. And I'm not trying to say it's not a big deal and yeah, Rose has to accept some responsibility for his actions. I'm just wondering: does the context have anything to do with the "punishment" Rose has to face.
Obviously he shouldn't have done it. 18 year old college kids do plenty of stupid things they shouldn't do. He said he's sorry, why shouldn't we believe him?
The thing that gets me is, as others have pointed out, if he were white, no one would accuse him of being in a gang; they'd be accusing him of being a racist. But since he's black, he must have been a gang banger, not just a stupid kid, right?
Please.