“It was hard growing in the South as a biracial kid without...

“It was hard growing in the South as a biracial kid without a father. But I had some great male role models. My neighbor was an old school Italian guy named Bernard Monti. He let me be part of his family. I could walk right into his house after school without even knocking. One day when I was in 6th grade, I came into his house crying because an 8th grader across the street had called my mom a nigger lover. Mr. Monti told me that I was teaching the kid to disrespect me. He told me to go back across the street and do what I had to do. So I did. And I got my ass beat. But the kid never picked on me again.”