Last night's episode of The Shop gave audiences access to a candid conversation between LeBron James and other celebs, including Jon Stewart, Odell Beckham Jr., and Vince Staples. It got real when James opened up about his initial rejection of white people, a stance that changed eventually.
"I went to an all-white high school, Catholic high school. So, when I first went to the ninth grade in high school, I was like, 'I ain't f*cking with no white people.'"
The basketball star explains how his upbringing had engrained the distrust of white people in his psyche. His focus while attending school was, therefore, to succeed at playing ball. Befriending his white classmates was not part of the plan.
"I was so institutionalized growing up in the hood, it's like, they don't f*ck with us, they don't want us to succeed."
"I'm going to school to play ball, and that's it. I don't want nothing to do with white people. It's me and my boys, we're going to high school together and we're here to hoop."
Although it might have taken him a while, he got around to making new connections. His longtime friend, Maverick Carter, says that everyone was rocking the same parties, regardless of race, by the end of the year.