I'm from South Carolina. I'm from a real cultured state, where there's still racism daily. Still, places are segregated.
South Carolina is one of the most racist states in America. John C. Calhoun is the name of a building at our school and he was a slave owner. Clemson, the name Clemson itself, was like a guy who was a slave owner. South Carolina, their whole history is messed up.
Where I'm from in South Carolina a lot of my friends, a lot of my family members have locks, what we call them. So, you know, it's more of a way of life, where we from, not a hairstyle. We really don't care to have it neat or you know too pretty it's just you know grow your hair. And I wash my hair everyday too.
My high school coach was a big Clemson fan, and I told him, 'As long as I'm the starting quarterback here, I'm not going to lose to South Carolina.'
I grew up in Florida in different cities. I was born in Mississippi. My parents moved a lot, so I moved to Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, all through the South. But my family's roots were from central Florida, like Daytona Beach area, so we ended up moving there.
The day I showed up to South Carolina to work, I was with my kid and my ex and our dog and Kirk was hanging with this weird guy and I kind of defined the two of them by his friend and made a vow to avoid him.
Returning to South Carolina meant getting a normal job in a normal town with normal people and marrying a normal person. I wanted the glamour and opportunity of the world.
Shortly thereafter, some friends encouraged me to try out for the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant. To my surprise, I won - and was sent to New York City to compete nationally.
All of us in the Ball family in South Carolina, from the time we're children, hear stories about our ancestors, the slave owners.
The British merchants represented that they received some profit indeed from Virginia and South Carolina, as well as the West Indies; but as for the rest of this continent, they were constant losers in trade.
