![U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield gives powerful speech at U.N.: "I know the ugly face of racism"](https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/03/19/0c901252-44b9-45c4-b771-e34c195e7538/thumbnail/1200x630/7f413cc4183943841d7d7ef4deee269d/gettyimages-1304756428.jpg)
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield gives powerful speech at U.N.: "I know the ugly face of racism"
CBSN
United Nations — The Biden administration's U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield gave a stirring and deeply personal address to world leaders at U.N. Headquarters on Friday during a session on the "elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," recounting troubling chapters from her own life story.
"I am a descendant of slaves. My great grandmother Mary Thomas, born in 1865, was the child of a slave. That is just three generations back from me," she said. "I grew up in the segregated South. I was bussed to a segregated school and on weekends, the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses on lawns in our neighborhood. When I was in high school, I was asked by a little girl, for whom I babysat, if I was an N-word because her dad had used the word for me."![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250216030556.jpg)
This story previously aired on Feb. 10, 2024. It was updated on Feb. 15, 2025. AMIE HARWICK (video): You can seek therapy to address an issue like depression, anxiety, a breakup. You can also seek therapy to be a better you! GARETH PURSEHOUSE (voicemail): I have so much I need to say. Please give me a chance to just say it. … Please (crying) please.
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