Racism was the theme of Thompson’s talk. He compared the arrival of immigrants to Ellis Island to the arrival of slaves to the United States, who came shackled and “herded in like cattle.” Thompson spoke of his family’s experiences in Charlottesville before and after desegregation; of how his mother was forced to enter a side door at UVA Hospital to deliver her son, and of how he suffered prejudicial treatment as a boy. He also spoke of the horrible events of Aug. 11 and 12, 2017, saying, “To a lot of us, it was an event that opened up wounds that had once healed.”