Owning “good trouble”

My parents were born in eastern Kentucky and grew up in Jellico, Tennessee. They married in early 1945 and both worked at the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. A few post World War II decisions led to my birth and childhood in Alabama. When the 1950 census was released, my uncle Jerry, the family genealogist, noted that my parents resided in Jellico the year of my birth. But, I didn’t make the census because I was still in utero. I lived in Alabama my first 55 years, but my grandparents lived in their Tennessee homes well into their 80s and 90s, so when I think of my ancestral home, it’s the Cumberland Mountains of Campbell County, Tennessee. I’ve been to more reunions at Jellico High School than to my Alabama high school.

As a child, I was more familiar with east Tennessee than Alabama. Children tend to bond with fellow children, so by the time I was eight years old, I was a fan of the new Alabama football coach, Paul W. Bryant, a loyalty that solidified over the ensuing years. When the City of Gadsden celebrated the Civil War centennial in 1961, I had a gray shirt and a little gray felt hat. My dad, then with mostly dark hair, grew a beard like Abraham Lincoln’s and wore a top hat. (I didn’t catch the irony then, but now it makes me smile.) I never felt totally at home in Sweet Home, Alabama. Thanks to my parents, I resonated with black Alabamians. In this dystopian moment, we need to know our fullest identity and we need to know the value of looking from the “outside.”

My parents, grandparents and extended family, particularly my mother, encouraged me to think for myself. She was independent and intelligent. She explained to me that many things about life in Alabama were not “right,” such as racial segregation. But, she was savvy enough to understand the costs involved with being an “outside agitator,” as George Wallace and others were fond of labeling any dissenter. Many parents underestimate the power of one-on-one conversations with a child who is respected as if he or she is an adult. I was an only child, which meant I had ample attention. But, my parents had eleven siblings between them, most of whom we engaged at regular intervals, so (as I’ve said before), I was an only child in a large family.

I learned from my extended family that this is a big world and America is a great country. I saw how things were somewhat (though not entirely) different in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, California, Kentucky, Florida, overseas and in other places family members visited, worked or resided. I learned that everyone at times feels like an outsider. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Luther, and Wesley were significant “outside agitators.” If you find yourself feeling like an outsider, you’re in good company. If you’re ridiculed for asking questions or if someone calls you a “troublemaker,” remember that when King Ahab called the prophet Elijah a ‘troublemaker,” Elijah said to the king, “I’m not the troublemaker. You are!”

ICE knows your face. Own it. The Creator of the Universe knows your face. Own that above all else!

From “John Lewis: Good Trouble, IMBD, 2020

Where’s home?

During the height of the current tariff fiasco, CNBC’s bond commentator, Rick Santelli, and “Fast Money” host Melissa Lee had a brief, but pointed exchange about the tariffs’ impact. Lee’s grandfather immigrated from China to the US. Santelli is the grandson of four Italian immigrants. Santelli, known for “dynamic reporting,” took a swipe at “globalists,” saying he is a “patriot.”

I see the US patriots who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944 as both patriots and globalists, but today’s focus is simply to ask, “Where’s home?” My parents were both born in Kentucky and raised in Tennessee. Three of my grandparents were from Kentucky, one was from Tennessee. The ancestral homes of my grandparents ranged from northeastern Kentucky to northwestern North Carolina.

Though I grew up in “sweet home Alabama,” about every six weeks I went “home” with my parents to east Tennessee. The Cumberland mountains are “home” for me, too. My last clergy appointment was in Jackson, Tennessee (2005-2010). My parents followed us there and both died there–for them a homecoming of sorts. Where’s home for you? Tim Snyder helps me think about where’s home:

From “Last Year’s Move to Toronto,” by Timothy Snyder, Thinking About…, June 2, 2025, a 22-minute video. Snyder, an Ohio native, has spent years living, working and traveling in Europe. After a long career at Yale, Snyder now holds the Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, a position supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies. Snyder has published ten books, including: Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010); On Tyranny Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017); The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (2018); Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015); Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary (2020); On Freedom (2024).