Basketball Legend Michael Jordan Admits to Racism in New Biography: "I Was Against All White People"

[The Straight Story]

Basketball Legend Michael Jordan Admits to Racism in New Biography: "I Was Against All White People"

Michael Jordan didn't travel the easiest of roads en route to becoming a college basketball star and an NBA legend.

And certain obstacles put a chip on his shoulder that, while it long since seems to have vanished, helped shape the athlete's drive and competitive spirit moving forward, according to "Michael Jordan: The Life," a new biography about the six-time NBA champion by sportswriter Roland Lazenby that hit shelves Tuesday.

Per an excerpt from the book, Jordan told Lazenby that he was suspended from school in 1977 after throwing a soda at a girl who called him the N-word.

"So I threw a soda at her," Jordan's quoted as saying. "I was really rebelling. I considered myself a racist at the time. Basically, I was against all white people."

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/Michael-Jordan-Biography-Racism-Basketball-Bulls-Chicago-NBA-258190931.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_LABrand

[Scuba]

1. Michael Jordan was 14 years old in 1977.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

2. She called him a silly word

and he reacted with violence? Sounds like he had an anger problem.

[frylock]

4. interesting takeaway..

and by interesting, I mean fucking laughable.

[malaise]

6. +1,000

and then some

[SevenSixtyTwo]

7. He went on to become

a multimillionaire athlete. She went on to become a what? Nobody knows. She must have went on to become a nobody. What does it matter what she called him? He won big time. Had she wound up being comatose from the soda hitting her head, he could have faced serious charges and ruined his future. Not worth it over a silly word.

[frylock]

8. i'm assuming the soda was in a cup..

otherwise he would've stated that he threw a can of soda.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

10. Good point.

When I hear soda I think of a can or a bottle. I got pegged in the head 35~years ago by a beer can that a young lady threw at her boyfriend over something he said. She missed him and I caught it behind the ear. Six stitches to the scalp and a throbbing headache over "words".

[Gravitycollapse]

5. Words are weapons. Sometimes they injure so badly that anger takes over...

And the only response a person can give is physical. Especially when no rhetorical response exists which could equally or more greatly wound the other. This is especially true with young persons.

The n-word can be a horrific act of psychic violence against black persons. More so than any punch or shove.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

9. I understand what you're saying

but our reaction to words is our choice. If some lowlife said my wife is a fuckin' whore, I have a choice to make. I can ignore it or I can go off on the guy and possibly ruin my life over it. Considering the source, it's not worth it.

[Gravitycollapse]

12. All of that is much easier said than done.

Especially amongst young people.

[McCamy Taylor]

3. Did she get suspended too?

He wasn't being racist anymore than a woman who objects to being groped is being "sexist". He was being human.

I'll bet that slaves in the South hated all white folks. I'll bet that if they ever got away and made it to France, they were very surprised to meet white folks who weren't monsters.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

11. Less than 2%

of the population were wealthy enough to "own" other human beings to do their labor for them. That mentality is still alive today, has been since the beginning and will be long after we're gone. The majority of white folks are not monsters. Most people. black, white and shades in between are good people.