{visual description: Captain Essence Carson of the Rutgers Women's basketball team addresses the audience at the press conference held today.}
Snippets:
Rutgers President : Thank you for being the outstanding ambassadors you are. My heart goes out to each and every one of you.
Coach C. Vivian Stringer:
Let me bring a human face to all of this...I want you to see ten young women who accomplished so much...that we...are so very proud of. These young ladies are valedictorians of their class....future doctors, musical prodigies...girl scouts..the best this nation has to offer and we are so very fortunate to have them here at Rutgers University....young ladies of class, distinction...God's representatives in every sense of the word.
...there are five freshmen...with over a 3.0 GPA...bright ..gifted hardworking. talking about Don Imus story....forgetting what it's ..about....perseverance, hard work...no one believed in them but them. That's the greatest story...I have nothing but pride and respect for them....came back to this..so hurt by the remarks that were uttered by Mr. Imus...we can't let other people steal our joy. ..I was a victim of racial discrimination but I had ...people..who stood up for me..
I would ask...who could hear these comments and not be personally offended? Are women hos? Would you want your daughter to be called that? ...It's about us as a people, black, white, purple or green...the color is green...these aren't political figures...hardworking young women that little girls look up to..bigger issue here...it is all women...have we lost a sense of our own moral fiber?
..i honor and respect their parents who entrust their daughters to me at such a delicate age...so I would ask all of us as adults what is this all about? Are we not responsible...for nurturing their dreams and supporting them? ...What happens when young people do good things and do the right things?..Is there malice in my heart? No, I'm hurt.....despicable words are not right...it's time for everybody to reflect on what's going on..it's been time.
..It took me 25 years to come to a championship game and for once....this was a team that had so little and gave so much...so young.....this was a team that would restore all our faith and confidence in young people. ..we hold our heads with with dignity and ...with respect for ourselves.
Heather Zurich, player:
...we fought, we persevered and most of all we believed in ourselves...but all of our accomplishments were lost, our moment was taken away. We were stripped of this moment by degrading comments made by Mr. Imus..what hurts most is that ...Mr. Imus doesn't know any of us personally...i beleve we present ourselves well... he knows not one of us.
{Each player gets up and introduces herself]
Essence Carson, Captain of team
I would like to express our team's great anger, hurt and disgust...deeply saddened by racial characterization. Imus..brought us to harsh reality ...under brightest lights... has made history...where were these major networks when we ...were making history? ..now we are being bombarded with emails, phone calls..taken a toll on us physically and mentally...we ask that you not recognize us in a light as dim as this....agreed to meeting with Don Imus....private meeting....express our great hurt and sadness this has brought to us...it's about women across the world, across this nation...take a stand..don't look at it as if we're ...attacking {Imus}....we're attacking an issue that we know isn't right.
It isn't right.
As a Rutgers alumna I am proud of these young women and I too am saddened by the fact that the media coverage was not there until the controversy with Imus occurred.
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