In a new book entitled Michael Jordan: The Life , the NBA legend reveals to author Ronald Lazenby that he considered himself to be racist “against all white people” while growing up in North Carolina. Jordan recalls that the Ku Klux Klan held major influence in Wilmington, NC during the 1960s and 70s, even providing Bibles to churches and uniforms to area basketball teams in order to maintain their power. The six-time NBA champion says he was subjected to frequent bigotry and ridicule during his childhood and teen years and received harsh punishments from authority figures when he attempted to fight back. During one incident in 1977, Jordan was suspended from school when he threw a soda in retaliation against a girl who attacked him with racial slurs. “So I threw a soda at her,” Jordan says when recalling the episode. “I was really rebelling. I considered myself a racist at the time. Basically, I was against all white people.” Recently, Jordan has been outspoken in his opinions regarding the Donald Sterling racism scandal . Jordan, who now owns the Charlotte Bobcats has stated that he “applauds” NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s decision to ban Sterling from the NBA . In a recent interview to promote his comprehensive biography, Lazenby described Jordan’s life as “a black power story.”
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Michael Jordan: I Was Racist Against All White People
