Royce White was born and raised in the Twin Cities. A native to the Rondo community of St. Paul. He started playing sports at the age of 5 years old. By age 9, he was playing basketball on the Northside of Minneapolis. As the son of a single mother, Royce has lived in various neighborhoods around the twin cities.
By age 9, he was playing basketball on the Northside of Minneapolis. As the son of a single mother, Royce has lived in various neighborhoods around the twin cities. Much of his family remained in the Rondo community, where he spent much of his time and received schooling. White excelled in basketball; by 10th grade, he was ranked as a top 20 player for his class.
He would go on to receive scholarship offers from many high major D-I universities for basketball while also winning the Minnesota Mr. Basketball Award in 2009 and receiving All-American honors. Deciding to stay home and attend the University of Minnesota, White accepted a scholarship offer to play for the Golden Gophers. After an incident during his first summer on campus, White reluctantly decided to transfer to Iowa State.
In his first and only season there, he would lead the Cyclones in points, assists, rebounds, blocks, and steals – becoming the only player in the country that year to do so and one of the few to do it in school history. He would receive All Big-12 first-team honors, as well as All-Big 12 Rookie Team and Newcomer of the Year. He was on the Naismith Award top-30 watchlist. He was also on the Dean’s list for academics at Iowa State.
After being selected 16th overall by The Houston Rockets in the NBA draft, White began to voice concerns about the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA), specifically regarding mental health policy, which at the time did not exist. Eventually, his concerns became a public dispute between White and the NBA. This resulted in White demanding that the NBA, as a representative of the global corporate community, take up the responsibility of spearheading the mental health conversation – not just posturing through press statements, but through policy. This put White at irreconcilable odds with the NBA and also the greater sports community that White now counts as a part of the Media Industrial Complex.
White would then spend two years living in Canada, playing professional basketball and winning two championships. In his first season, he was awarded MVP and broke the all-time triple-double record in just one season. In his second season, he won a scoring title but withdrew his name from MVP contention ahead of the vote, out of respect for Canadian Basketball legend Carl English, who had returned to play in Newfoundland.
After Royce’s departure from Canada, he played in The BIG 3 basketball tournament – a professional 3 on 3 league started by Ice Cube and Co-Founder Jeff Kwatinetz. He is still a Co-Captain on team Power alongside Captain Cuttino Mobley and Head Coach Nancy Lieberman. In his first season, White was selected number 1 in the 2019 BIG 3 draft. At the draft, he wore a shirt that read “I Flew Here,” which made fun of the mainstream media narrative that he had been exiled from the NBA on account of his publicized fear of flying. The clip went viral and debunked the mainstream media narrative.
White made headlines again in 2020 during the George Floyd situation in Minneapolis, leading several peaceful protests throughout the city. He spoke out about Corporatocracy during the marches and staged die-ins at institutions such as The Federal Reserve.
© 2023 Royce White for Senate. All Rights Reserved.
Paid for by Royce White for Senate
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media Links
Gettr
Social media championing free expression of ideas.
Twitter
A digital media platform for sharing news and media.
Rumble
Video channel emphasizing free speech and independence.
YouTube
Video sharing for engaging with diverse ideas and content.