On The Shoulders Of A Giant: My Hero, My Grandfather

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” 

Isaac Newton wrote that in a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675.

I’ve always liked that quote because it’s humbling. It’s a reminder that even the people who we perceive to be great — their achievements should be attributed to the real greats who came before them. There was somebody who walked so they could run. 

I have only ever known one giant and I have stood on his shoulders my entire life. I have shared that giant with the world to the best of my ability. There isn’t a single person who can legitimately say they are a fan of mine who cannot also tell you something about my grandfather.

During one of my most viral internet moments — testifying in front of congress — my grandfather was sitting right behind me, shaking his head at Ted Lieu.

My first published book, Blackout, has sold 498,695 copies. That’s just under half a million people who own a book that tells the story of my grandfather. It’s a book dedicated to him.

I have toured the country, non-stop over these last 4 years. I’ve delivered hundreds of speeches in front of thousands upon thousands of people. I can say honestly that I have never left any of those stages without telling the story of my granddad. 

The story of a boy who was born in North Carolina in 1941, on a sharecropping farm in the segregated south. One of twelve children. 

I didn’t feel ready to do this episode. We just kept pushing it back. I opted to instead drown myself in so much other work — rather than dealing with the sadness of my grandfather’s passing — because I didn’t feel ready. 

Then recently I began seeing the “a-ha” in that.  I thought “a-ha, that’s it. I don’t feel ready.”

Like I didn’t feel ready to ride a bike without support when I was 4 years old. My grandad went to the shed, grabbed his tools and took the training wheels off anyway. He ran behind me to give me a push start and told me “just keep pedaling.” And I did. He knew I was ready. 

And 26 years later, I didn’t feel ready when I testified for the first time in front of Congress. In fact, I had taken a red eye from California the night before and was on just 2 hours of

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