Elites call the South backward — but walking it revealed America's next boom |
Pastor and Project H.O.O.D. founder Corey Brooks discusses the strengths he has seen in North Carolina as he continues walking across America.
As I continue my Walk Across America through the great state of North Carolina, I have heard from folks up north that "the South is America’s problem." These friends of mine, who are not so familiar with this region, often think of it as the nation’s hotbed of backwardness, where the lingering echoes of slavery, segregation and Confederate nostalgia fuel divisive debates over race, guns and social progress. They believe this region is mired in poverty and prejudice and forever locked into battles over old monuments. But they’re outsiders who’ve never walked the backroads I have.
I have met farmers, factory hands, professors, business people, churchgoers, chefs and veterans, and I am calling it like I see it: These outsiders are flat-out wrong.
MY WALK ACROSS AMERICA IS A LESSON IN GRATITUDE AND GIVING THANKS
The truth is that the South — and North Carolina especially — is the backbone of what makes America strong. People forget that I spent the first 12 years of my life in the South, in Kenton, Tennessee. We all grew up with a deep faith in God and in America. We believed in rock-solid families, a work ethic that doesn’t quit, and a resilience that sees us through adversities of all kinds. I see all that today as I walk, and I have been thanking the Lord for these sights, for they strengthen me.
When