To be a good neighbor, a good friend, is to embrace the fullness of the community of creation as our neighbor. From there, grown from the Earth, we seek to bear the fruitfulness of mutual love in action, care for the entire community, and concern for one another as the most holistic vision for ethical living.

Southern sacredness is in the texture of the grass, the song of the wind, the hue of the clay. In the whistles of the rivers, the latkes and the streams.

And it has been calling us.

It has been calling us to use our greatness to build it up to the best of what it can be.

To refuse to let the worst of yesterday dictate tomorrow's possibility.

It has been calling us to come back so that we all can move forward together.

As a descendant of Black folks who left their homes and families behind in hopes of a better tomorrow, I’m grateful for organizations like BLK South who are doing the work of honoring and reclaiming Black southern heritage.BLK South is more than a community organization. It’s in many ways a Sankofa movement; it’s a movement that reaches back, that learns from and honors our past, and allows it to inform our present and future as Black Americans.

A lesson taught in my MTC cohort experience is being able to affirm and reject what I am taught and information I am given about culture and the world recognizing that no one is without bias. This was taught to us so that we can affirm and reject thoughts and ideologies that do not allow us to be a faithful witness of Jesus and the Biblical story. I am a Black man in America who also identifies as a disciple of Jesus. I believe an expansive part of The Black American story as it relates to being a witness of Jesus was lacking in…