Chris Buice is minister of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
When the Rev. Calvin T. Skinner was arrested at a Knox County Commission meeting, I was reminded of the scripture, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown” and apparently by his own County Commission.
Skinner is appreciated elsewhere. Morehouse College inducted him into the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers and Laity. Morehouse is King’s alma mater. The award is given to those who carry on his tradition of prophetic ministry by speaking truth to power and overcoming hatred with love.
King was arrested and imprisoned 29 times in his lifetime. Of course, it is easier to honor the prophets after they are gone. That’s why we have a national monument for him in Washington, D.C., and a national holiday for him every year.