Friend,
I believe in the American Dream because I LIVED IT.
This is a country that allowed me, the son of a single mom who raised her two Black sons in the South, to become a U.S. Senator representing the home of the Civil War.
Where else on Earth is that possible?
I refuse to buy into the "burn it all down" mentality dominating our current culture and discourse.
That isn’t my story and that isn’t the story of America.
My story, like the story of many Americans, is one of challenges and opportunities, and of pain turned into purpose.
When I was young, my grandparents took my mom, my brother, and me into their home when my parents split up. My mom worked long and hard hours each and every day to put food on the table. | 
