Back in the days of Shemar Moore's upbringing, he was burdened by a multitude of existential queries. Born an only child in Oakland, California, to a White mother Marilyn Wilson-Moore and a Black father Sherrod Moore, the 54-year-old S.W.A.T. star recalls pondering as a kid, "Am I Brown enough? Am I Black enough? Do I walk the walk? I'll never be White as I'm too Brown. How should I talk? How should I move? How should I dress? Where do I fit in?"

Early Life Overseas

For a significant part of his early years, Moore was raised overseas by his mother, an educator, after her and his father, an Army vet, separated. "When I was just six months old, we left the country. My father was associated with the Black Panthers. He had a purpose, a positive one that he believed in, but it didn't shield him from trouble," he explains.Moore continues, "He was a very dark-skinned Black man and faced a lot of hostility because of it. He was frequently called the N-word. And then he got together with this White woman with a big butt. But she also had a big brain," he says about his mother.

Parents' Meeting and Early Years in the US

When his parents met in the 1960s, "Interracial relationships were fashionable but not widely accepted," he states. "There was a great deal of racial tension and my mother didn't want to raise me in such an environment. She got a job in Denmark and we left."Although his father made visits in the first few years, "he overdid it a bit according to my mother's liking and she said, 'Enough is enough.' He returned to the States, got into trouble, and spent four years in San Quentin prison."Moore and his mom traveled around the world, from Denmark to Bahrain, Ghana to Greece. "Nothing about my life was ordinary," he remarks. But when they came back to the US when he was a bit older, he felt the urge to conform.

Influence of High School Coach

When he would share his struggles with racial identity with his mother, she provided perspective. "She said, 'Shemar, understand both families' backgrounds, your Black side and your White side. Respect it all, but just be yourself."He credits another adult for shaping his outlook. "My high school baseball coach Melvin Harrison. He was the closest thing to a father I ever knew," says Moore. "He mentored me, taught me baseball, pushed me to be the best I could be, and encouraged me to be a proud Black man and an even prouder human being."

Present and Tattoos

Though being mixed "was an insecurity as a kid," Moore says that's no longer the case. "I don't apologize for being mixed. I'm a Black man. That's how society treats you. But I'm also half White."He continues, "I got Barack Obama tattooed on my back. It's not about politics. It's about the fact that he is the first Black president. But what is Barack Obama? He's half-Black and half-White. He was raised by the White side, but I was raised by the White side while staying true to the Black side and honoring it."Throughout Moore's Los Angeles dream home, custom art depicting notable Black figures like Malcolm X, Mohammad Ali, and even Steph Curry adorns the walls. "The art depicts my heart," he says. "I am very much an African-American, but I'm also White and very proud of what that brings. I honor African-American culture, the code, the cadence, the language, but I also stay in my lane and don't try to be something I'm not."