Michael Jordan In New Book: 'I Considered Myself A Racist' As A Youngster
(CBS) In a new biography set to be released next week, Bulls legend Michael Jordan details his struggles with racism while growing up and says he "considered myself a racist" as a youngster, according to a report from the New York Post and also detailed by ESPN.com.
From the Post:
In 1977, Jordan remembers a girl at school calling him a n—-r.
"So I threw a soda at her," he says. "I was really rebelling. I considered myself a racist at the time. Basically, I was against all white people."
He was suspended for the incident. During that time, it was his mother who convinced him that he could not go through life consumed by racial hatred.
Jordan, 51, now owns the Charlotte Bobcats. He often doesn't speak out on larger issues, but he was among the many owners who recently condemned Clippers owner Donald Sterling following the latter's racially insensitive remarks that were caught on tape. Sterling has since been banned from the NBA for life, fined and is being pushed to sell his franchise.
In the book -- titled "Michael Jordan: The Life" and written by Ronald Lazenby -- Jordan says the Ku Klux Klan was active and influential in his native North Carolina while he grew up, according to the Post. He also details how he was one of only two black players on the school baseball team and that he was called inferior while he played, the Post reported.