I struggled with the truth about my family history. If you’re black in America and your family has been here for generations, you very likely have slaves as ancestors. And if you’re white in America and your family has been here for generations, you very likely have ancestors who owned slaves. Those are just the facts. I ran from it for a long time. But I finally was able to talk about it with a guy named Chris Tomlinson, who was from the white family of Tomlinson’s whose ancestors enslaved by ancestors. We took their family name – Tomlinson. I learned so much about my family history. But I realized that a lot of us don’t know much about our family history on both sides, white and black. This was my opportunity to say ‘we’re all alike, we all come from the same place.’ We may look different and have different experiences, but, like it or not, this is America’s story. Like I said in the speech, “I firmly believe that God chose me to help bring two races together under one last name, Tomlinson. I’m a mixed race, and I represent America.”