Derrick Rose was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois.
Rose is a Christian, and clearly quite devout even though he's not as outspoken as fellow Christian athletes Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin. Rose is tight-lipped about the details of his faith, but he's certainly not ashamed to show it off.
You could say Rose wears his faith on his sleeve. He rocks an angel tattoo on his neck, a cross on his arm, a tattoo across his back that reads "God's Child," and one on his arm that reads "Only God Can Judge Me."[1] Plus, he regularly wears a wristband at games with the letters "IJNIP," meaning "In Jesus' Name I Play."[2]
Plus, Rose credits God to his skills on the court. During after-game interviews, he regularly says things like:
God gave me a gift to drive to the basket.[3]
But it goes both ways for Derrick, who will throw out a "God does everything for a reason" when he loses a game.[4]
Chicago politics
Rose is an Obama supporter, which automatically puts him in the Democrat camp, but it's unlikely that its for any ideological reasons. Rose grew up in south Chicago when Obama was his representative in the Illinois State Senate. Rose says:
I remember when he wasn't our president, when I was a kid, when he'd just be walking down the street, a state senator. He was just always there. I didn't appreciate it then. I was in high school and just wanted to see rappers.[5]
Rose has matured and become a wealthy and influential athlete.
During the wind-up to the 2012 election season, Rose was campaigning for the president at upper-class, swanky fundraisers,[6] a world away from his and Obama's roots. He said:
Very excited to be involved in President Barack Obama's re-election campaign tonight! It's a great honor and should be a lot of fun.[7]
Rose is known for being humble, even shy, and doesn't seem to want to grasp the deeper issues involved in celebrity politics. It appears that these normally admirable and endearing traits could be manipulated by people looking to use someone like Rose to gain power, turning this world-class athlete into a pawn of the establishment. What do you think?
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