Tofunmi was trying to give his girlfriend the perfect birthday when a man in a Ram truck yelled a racial slur at him through the window in broad daylight, with his young daughter laughing in the passenger seat. 

What followed was a confrontation, a near-accident, and a lesson Tofunmi's father tried to teach him the next day: that real power means not reacting, even when everything in you is screaming to. 

Tofunmi reflects on the seemingly-impossible standard of having to be a leader even when someone tries to strip away your humanity. This isn't an easy story to hear. But it needs to be told.