A sad commentary by Kimmy King

I wanted to write about the new cast of the Real World "Las Vegas", but after multiple text messaging today asking me if I heard what Jimmy King said today on ESPN I had to push the Real World back a few days and post this clip and my thoughts.



My first thought was sadness and embarassment for King, this first comes across as bitter and mean spirited. More importantly this is a terrible commentary from a role model who presently works with children. He should be encouraging young kids, especially young African American children to aspire to attend Duke and not for their basketball program. A Duke education is priceless and everyday African American Duke graduates do great things for society through work in medical, research, and educational fields to name a few. Would Jimmy King classify these Duke students/grads as "Uncle Tom's"?



By labeling African American Duke basketball players as "Uncle Tom's" he labels a variety of different people and personalities, most of whom he has never met. In the clip Grant Hill is mentioned by name, King should talk to any NBA player who has had the privelege to play with Hill and ask them what they think about Grant Hill. Another great example recent example is Shane Battier who was traded to Memphis at the deadline this year. When beat reporters asked current Grizzles OJ Mayo and Zack Randolph (both of whom have had checkered pasts to say the least) about Battier they gushed and called him an "example both on and off the court". If Mayo and Randolph are not "real" enough for King he could ask anyone on the Olympic team or Doc Rivers why a young African Amercian player might be swayed to play for Coach K and the Duke program.

I was glad to see Jason Whitlock immediately condemn King on twitter for these "ridiculous" comments, and now it is time for Jalen Rose to do the same. I like Rose as a TV personality and he did a nice job with this project, but he along with everyone else associated with these movie needs to state publicly how off base King's comments were. Hopefully prominent African American sportwriters who all have taken advantage of educational opportunties at institutions like Duke will also go public with thoughts to show that King is standing alone so far out in left field that he looks as small as these comments.