PHILADELPHIA PA, April 10, 2007 – Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) issued the following statement on the Rutgers University basketball team and its response to the Don Imus controversy:

“The 10 extraordinary young women of the Rutgers University basketball team, and their coach C. Vivian Stringer, have provided our nation with a lesson today in class, and poise, and grace.

“These student athletes, away from the court where they are most comfortable, have been thrust into a different kind of national spotlight against their will. They have proved that in this new role they are role models who can teach us volumes about education, aspiration and opportunity.

“Long after the hateful racist words of a particular media personality have faded, we will remember the names, the faces and the voices of these young women of Rutgers. Young people, in our high schools and colleges everywhere, can look to them and aspire to become, in the words of Captain Essence Carson, the leaders of tomorrow.  

“I salute these young women for the genuine heroes, the true champions that they are.”