I see it a little differently. I don't think that the overwhelming majority of people upset with LeBron were upset that he left Cleveland-it was HOW he left Cleveland. It was classless and immature. It was wrong. Whenever you leave a job you don't burn down the bridge because you never know when you might have to come back across. He brought most of this on himself.
That said LeBron's rating is different among blacks and whites. And I would be quite surprised if LeBron and/or his family or new team hadn't received some racially insulting emails/letters. If so that would give more factual basis to his observation. So just recognizing different reactions exist doesn't in and of itself mean that someone is necessarily a bad guy.
LeBron is probably the wrong person to be talking about this considering how quickly he ran from discussions about the Vogue cover which p**** off some people.
I don't disagree that some people may have thrown some racially insensitive remarks at LeBron. I just think he's pulling out the race issue to take away all of the bad PR he has endured since July. I think he and his management team have no other angle to use to their favor.
I was talking about this issue with an African-American female friend of mine. She is furious that LeBron is citing race. She brought up some interesting points.
First, when did LeBron ever cite race or stick his nose into anything racially controversial before? Her answer was never and I am hard pressed to disagree.
Second, she felt that LeBron probably has had some racial biases of his own growing up. His first real exposure to whites was probably not until high school. Then white executives either within the NBA or at corporate sponsors. My friend felt that LeBron's biases were displayed when he cited not liking the city of Cleveland and that he always viewed us as his enemy being from Akron, OH.
Her final point is that LeBron surrounded himself with his childhood friends, most of whom are not well educated. James himself was given special treatment (not uncommon amongst athletes), so who knows what reflection his GPA was in relation to his fellow students.
A very telling sign that LeBron and his business associates are not well thought of came from one of the preeminent African-American businessmen: Magic Johnson. LeBron's management team desperately wanted Magic's involvement in their LMR management company and Magic flatly refused.
