Some of you have heard my story of being one of the first former Trump supporters to denounce Trump after a life-changing dialogue. It took changing my worldview on liberal values, Democratic officials, and marginalized people before seeing the con of Trump. I am going to explain some of the
There’s a story on the KY Health News site, which we will probably cross-post later, about a meeting in Somerset involving Republican legislators and candidates. They were there to talk about all the ways they are going to “rein in” Governor Beshear when they meet in January. That’s
We’ve known for some time that there are two realities in the United States: the right-wing bubble of Fox News, inhabited by most Republicans – and, everyone else. Now a new CBS poll demonstrates those two realities with numbers; and boy howdy, are the numbers revealing. Here’s the top-line
He touched all the bases. In his acceptance speech, Joe Biden was the economic fairness guy; no Democratic presidential nominee since Harry Truman has highlighted unions more in his acceptance speech. He was the Black Lives Matter backer, recounting his talk with George Floyd’s six-year-old daughter. He fused the
Ten Commandments and Trump 2020 yard signs are a common combo in 90-percent-white, Bible Belt western Kentucky where I’ve lived all my 70 years. The former signs are perennials, the latter quadrennials, having first sprouted in 2016. I just spotted a new front lawn variant of rendering unto the
(A guest op-ed by Dean Ridings, the CEO of the organization America’s Newspapers) America’s Founders regarded a free press as so vital to the new nation that they took care to include that right in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Founders spoke glowingly about the press as
As a Black law student, I would love nothing more than to see Derek Chauvin, his conspiring officers, and every bigoted cop brought to justice at the hands of a Black prosecutor, just for the irony. However, unless you are currently reading while Black, I doubt you understand the stigma
There is a lot of discussion across the United States about police work – more specifically, about re-imagining how police work is done. That conversation (and that action) is necessary, critically so, and long, long overdue. As part of that discussion, you may have heard the phrase “defund the police.” You
The term “white privilege” has appeared frequently in our streets, news reports, and commentaries. If we are white, this term can make us feel angry or guilty – or some strange combination of the two. This is especially true when we are told that white privilege is not simply prejudice, but
To all of my white friends, I have believed you to be an ally or believe that you are ready to step up and be an ally in the fight against racism. I also know that many of you already know some of things that I am about to say.
I continue to be grateful for the team we have at Forward Kentucky, and proud of the work they do. So it is with a great deal of pleasure that I can tell you that we have not one, but TWO new books on the way from two of our
The Right has a cottage industry of outrage over reparations to the descendants of slaves. (I know it’s hard to keep up these days, with so many themes emerging from the outrage machine.) It’s fallen a bit by the wayside lately, what with blaming Bill Gates — or George
If you’ve read Forward Kentucky for a while, you know that I try to avoid the “hair on fire” approach to our work. (And as long as my hair is right now, that approach would turn into a conflagration for sure.) However, there continue to be developments at all
I lived in central Illinois for 15 years, where I served as the senior pastor of a church in Peoria. In the early days of my ministry there, Native Americans were protesting the presence of Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois. There were hard feelings about this on both
When a county official wanted a Confederate flag raised on the courthouse lawn in Benton, Ky., he said he opted for the “Stars and Bars” to sidestep “the negativity associated with the ‘Battle Flag’ and its common ‘Southern Cross’ design.” Republican Marshall County Commissioner Justin Lamb said on Facebook that
I spent much of my adult life serving numerous churches as a minister of music and education. I don’t talk about it very often in this context, because it often raises more questions than it answers, and I find that many people automatically put you in a box if
