The Tree of Life: Remembering my Friend, Mitch Mitchell: Reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Earlier today, I delivered a brief electronic eulogy at his funeral. Death is not a respecter of persons. It comes for us all. Sooner or later, we will die. Of this we can be sure. Mitch Mitchell was not unaware of this fact. In fact, he embraced it. Every day, he treated each encounter as if it might be... Read more
Threats & Consequences at 3:20am: An Update from Ashe County It is the dead of night. I can’t sleep. I thought I had escaped living like this. Now, I know this will never be true. The clock ticks. The huge plate glass window seems to be my only comfort. The authors of various evils lurk in the darkness. I can hear their words. I know they’re close. They have been close since we got here. I thought that... Read more
There was a brush fire on Mount Horeb. Moses was stumbling around grazing some animals when God found him. The call was not soft. In fact, the call couldn’t have been much louder. Moses started to approach the noise. Was he going crazy? Could he trust such sounds? Was he hearing things? I don’t know that he knew. Honestly, I don’t know that he cared. I think the only thing that he was certain of is that he had... Read more
September 20, 2020 A Path for White Activists // A Celebration of the Life of The Rev. Robert (Bob) Graetz Impossible. One simply could not grow up in Atlanta without knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. We were the epicenter of it all. From the earliest of ages, I knew that something very special had happened in my hometown. First Grade. I was in the class of the first/only black teacher at my elementary school,... Read more
Ashe County, North Carolina: Racism Definitely Lives Here. You wouldn’t think it would matter that much…it does. For close to ten years, we lived in a place where all we had to do to dispose of our garbage was roll it down to the curb. Since we moved up in the mountains, we have to drive our garbage to a collection site. I probably go a couple of times per week. Interestingly enough, these collection sites can turn into... Read more
Perpetrator Shooting. Deputies Dying. Activists Cheering. : Where is God? * This post was written over the period of a couple of days / from the time that I found out about the shooting until now. Just a few hours ago, two deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were ambushed and shot multiple times in Compton. The deputies were sitting in their patrol car taking a break. Not long after the attack, two families were... Read more
Cancel Culture & the Gospel of Jesus Christ There once was a man named Matthew. The community hated him. Day and night he robbed them of their money. Though he called them taxes, they were really indulgences. To say that he was canceled would be an understatement. Most wanted nothing to do with him at all. The only people who stuck around were people who’d also been shunned. Then one day…a man named Jesus walked by. Drawn to... Read more
Micah Johnson / Kyle Rittenhouse : The Same Demon I write about it more than I ever imagined I would. I guess I could have never imagined experiencing it in the first place. There is no doubt that I am still there. I know what I saw. I can still see it. Every step brought me deeper into another world. “Does tonight feel differently to you?” “What do you mean?” “I just have a bad feeling about all... Read more
angels amongst us? When I was an early teenager, I worked across the street for my neighbor. I cut. I mulched. I sweat. I pruned. I pushed. I edged. I did it all. In spite of the miserable pay, I enjoyed it. There is something about doing something alone that is redemptive at that age. Early one rainy morning, I put on my coat to run across the street to collect my money. I didn’t realize how blinding things... Read more
Mountain City, Tennessee Racist Tropes: On Tomahawks We were up late. Atlanta had never seen anything like this. The Braves were on the cusp of the World Series. We were full of nervous energy. This was Game 7. Francisco Cabrera was pinch-hitting. The Braves needed two runs to win. Almost effortlessly, Cabrera hit the ball into a hole in left field. We jumped up on our feet and started screaming. David Justice scored the tying run. Right behind him, Sid Bream slid... Read more
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