Detroit — Kids have it easy these days, goes the familiar complaint — and it’s wrong, says Jalen Rose, the retired basketball star. “It’s harder now,” he insists. “You know how certain adults feel, the older they get, the longer the walk was to school? Well, I don’t feel like that. These young people have more challenges in front of them than we could have imagined. Everything’s in their face: sex, drugs, violence, gangs, and it’s happening at a warp speed on social media.”
Rose knows about growing up tough. Born and raised in Detroit, he never met his father. His mother sometimes couldn’t afford to turn on the heat in the winter. Crime was everywhere. Rose found his salvation through basketball, becoming famous as a player. He now works as a basketball analyst on TV.
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