Henry Hays was cheated all his life. He was cheated by his father who taught him to hate. His community taught him to hate. My mom told me, no matter what one does in life, he or she deserves some compassion, and I knew Hays deserved compassion more than anybody.
President Obama started in public life not as an elected official but as a community organizer. He worked with churches and other groups on the south side of Chicago to push public leaders to fight poverty, improve the local school system and make housing more affordable, and to bring about the change the community needed and deserved.
I assumed that, if I put my head down and did great work, what I deserved would come to me. What you deserve will not come to you. It is only in advocating for yourself that you will receive what you deserve.
I was willing to accept a bad reputation if I deserved it, but it was going to be based on my actions, not on anybody's history. I'm not running from my family - I couldn't embrace my family more. But I wanted to work in an industry where I could define myself, not be defined by my grandfather's history.
I knew what I was getting into when I chose golf. Hell, I knew I'd never get rich and famous. All the discrimination, the not being able to play where I deserved and wanted to play - in the end, I didn't give a damn. I was made for a tough life because I'm a tough man. And in the end, I won: I got a lot of black people playing golf.