Michael Nabors

08/24/2026

Gary, Indiana has been on my mind.

During my staycation, I decided to worship in Gary this morning. I intentionally attended a church in Gary. Giving myself enough time, I left home in Evanston at 9 in order to arrive by 11 for worship. Little did I know that south bound traffic on DuSable/Lake Shore Drive was shut down due to a bike event.

I found myself driving through the city on roads alongside the more familiar Lake Shore Drive.

While I have lived in metro Chicago eleven years, I had never taken this drive before. It was simply astounding. On this beautiful, sun-kissed, blue sky, 75 degree day, I saw about ten miles of open parks, walkways, jogging paths, flower gardens, and boats tied to small piers. There must have been hundreds, no thousands of people out and about. It was simply beautiful and much more personal than driving down Lake Shore Drive South while looking at the beach front and Lake Michigan.

After about an hour, I found myself at Cermak Street where I turned on to 55 S and headed for 94 W. Then I drove on a familiar highway until reaching the Broadway Avenue exit into downtown Gary. I intended to drive around the city to look at the aftermath of the storms that shut down the power more than a week ago.

The scenery stood in stark contrast to what I had just driven through in Chicago. Heading down Broadway, I saw the aftermath of a downtown that was once the pride of northeastern Indiana, the Steel City of the world. Nearly every building was boarded up or falling apart. Here and there were fast food restaurants, a gas station, a medical clinic.

Former department stores long gone, with only the shell of structures left standing. Houses of worship, closed. Abandoned building after abandoned building. There was not much traffic, a stark contrast to the busy side streets that detained me in Chicago. There were just a few people walking along the sidewalks. In one area I saw a small crowd of people who were assembled together. All of this was on Broadway. Because of the detour in Chicago I had no time to venture into neighborhoods before service.

Finally, I arrived at St. Timothy's. I was pleasantly surprised to see many cars in the parking lot. Security guards kindly gestured to where I should park. It was 11:02. I walked in and whispered to the usher that I needed to be directed to the Men's bathroom. It's a "men-over-sixty-thing." He escorted me to a bathroom just right of the sanctuary. There was a candle lighting the inside.

After 12 days, Gary is still without power.

I walked back to the sanctuary and took a seat. About a hundred people were in worship, despite no air conditioning or lights. The choir was singing with a trio of musicians. The sanctuary is beautiful and semi-dark. But because it was bright outside, sunlight filtered its way inside, lighting the pews, preachers and the people.

The pastor made a few announcements and introduced the youth minister as the guest preacher. To my surprise, he was one of my students at Garrett Seminary. I had just spent a week with him and his cohorts in an intensive course, 9-4, Monday through Friday. He preached from the subject, "Almighty and Available" from Psalm 46.1, "God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble."

What a pleasure it was to hear him quote from one of the assigned readings last week, "We Have Been Believers," by James Evans.

In the throes of natural disaster caused by tornado winds two weeks ago, I heard a young minister offering promises of hope and better days. In the reality of a city that much of the state and country has left behind, I witnessed a resilient people singing "We've Come this Far By Faith."

The sermon ended. The benediction was given. Many members signed up to serve as volunteers for a food and water distribution tomorrow, sponsored by the church.

After leaving the parking lot, I decided to drive through as much of the city as possible.

Block after block, street after street, home after home.
In the midst of church buildings that were no longer churches,
schools that were no longer schools,
barber shops and beauty salons that were no longer barber shops and beauty salons, and,
houses that were no longer homes, the powerful presence of Black faith-filled communities, was everywhere.

I saw children laughing and playing. I saw people on porches talking. I saw grills lit with men and women barbecuing. I saw life. Black and brown life, in a city that our nation has barely mentioned. 12 days later, no electricity or gas is available for a great many residents in a city on the north American continent of the United States.

If you or your church or organization are interested in helping and assisting, please reach out to St. Timothy Community Church, 1600 W. 25th Avenue, Gary, Indiana. The phone number is 219-977-0079.

The pastor is Rev. Rameen M. Jackson. The youth minister is Rev. William Currin. They did not ask for help, nor did they realize I was in the sanctuary until after worship service. And of course they had no idea that I would be posting of my experience during my staycation.
Gary, Indiana needs us.

02/25/2026

I consider myself to be open-minded, pretty caught up on current affairs and even willing to engage in reasonable debate and dialogue with those whom I disagree.

Yet, for the life of me, I was incapable of bringing myself to watch last night's two-hour State of the Union address by one of the most racist, ra**st, child molester, creepy monsters, our nation has ever produced.

There he was- a glimmering gold/orange in the spotlight with half of Congress regaling him as king.

There he was- lying about every conceivable issue and twisting facts like an assembly line worker at a pretzel factory.

There he was- standing in our nation's most important spot and addressing what was once the nation's most important assembly.

There he was- a racist who posted chimpanzee pictures of former President and First Lady Barak and Michelle Obama.

There he was- a narcissistic misanthrope who has shredded historical landmarks like the Kennedy Center.

There he was- one who has been accused of ra**ng a child no more than thirteen years old and also accused of ra**ng dozens of women over the years.

There he was- hurling insufferable and inhumane insults at Somalian Americans, further dividing the country by race.

There he was- lying so badly about tariffs until it was repulsive as his MAGA followers failed to see that nearly all tariff revenue has come from America, not foreign countries.

There he was- lying so badly about American's economy until every single person on each side of the aisle must have been thinking, "What the hell?"

There he was- receiving ovation after ovation, applause after applause from hundreds of blind elected officials who are in turn, leading the blind masses of the MAGA.

There he was- just last night, enabling some archaic notion that white men can do whatever the hell they want to do and no one can do anything about it.

You think I wanted to watch or listen to any of that devilish dribble emanating from a carefully crafted system (those running Trump) bent on ripping to shreds, all advancements of people of color and women?

I consider myself to be open minded, pretty caught up on current affairs, and even willing to engage in reasonable debate and dialogue with those whom I disagree.

But looking at and listening to that fellow makes me physically ill. It is like seeing evil incarnate dressed in a suit and tie and being worshiped by imps and minions.

So, I just caught the recaps of the most horrible State of the Union Address ever given. And I read all the articles I could find. TV cameras did not do justice to the protests occurring within the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. By the way, that is our House Chamber. It does not belong to Trump or the Republican Party. Or the Democrats for that matter. It belongs to "We the People." That, we heard nothing about last night.

I think Sunday I'll preach from the subject, "The Real State of the Union." I hope I tell the truth in twenty minutes rather than lying for two hours. I also hope folks are listening to truth tellers because right now, our nation is going to hell in a handbasket.

Only truth and love can save us. That is the opposite of what was heard and seen last night.

02/04/2026

This picture was in a 5 by 7-inch frame and was placed on my Mom's nightstand beside her bed for many years. As a child whenever I sneaked into her room and looked at the picture, I was filled with so many questions.

Being the youngest with eight older siblings, I may have missed any story she told about the picture. But hearing bits and pieces, I learned they were....relatives.

I would scratch my head, especially as I went through my afro, dashiki, dark glasses, black power fist days of the early 70's. It would not be until I was in my 50's that I learned about the man and woman in the picture.

These are my mother's paternal great grandparents, the Ploughs. Amish farmers from Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, they had a daughter Emma Plough. After the Civil War, a black veteran named Albert, a former slave, began working on the farm. He and the farmer's daughter fell in love, got married, and moved to North Buxton, Ontario, Canada. They had six children. Mom's father Alfred (my maternal grandfather) was the youngest.

Around 1900 they moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. About ten years later Alfred married my grandmother, Hilda. Nine years later, Mom was born.

In a nutshell, I'd like to introduce you to my great great grandparents. The Ploughs. Black History facts are often multi-colored, I guess.

Amish presence on Mom's paternal side, AME & Quaker on Mom's maternal side, full Black Baptist on Dad's side.

08/30/2025

If you have never shared a post, please consider sharing this one. Not enough people are responding to this horrible injustice. If I tagged you and you disagree with the sentiments shared, just dismiss from your profile page.

I wasn't especially close to two of the most important Black women in the Christian faith when we all walked the grounds of PTS. Upon my arrival, Renita Weems was a third year M.Div. student and Prathia Hall Wynne had begun study in a Ph.D. program. But I marveled at their incredible poise, deep focus and intellectual hunger.

Both went on to achieve iconic status as change agents of the faith.
One day in chapel Rev. Hall Wynne preached "Somebody Ought to Say Something." Over forty years later, I cannot remember the particular issue that framed the topic. But the topic itself, has been a mainstay in my own ministry...every single today.

Like today. Somebody ought to say something.

Yesterday at the U.S. Open after a competitive match between Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko, horribly mean and vicious words were spoken. Ostapenko appeared filled with a selfish, impish, "privileged" venom when she pointed her finger in Townsend's face, after the match. Mind you, Ostapenko had just been defeated. In the vernacular of my youth, "She just got her ass whipped."

Rather than accepting defeat with grace and humility, or even quiet anger, she chose to vent her true feelings. The white Ostapenko said to the black Townsend, "You have no class. You have no education." She also inferred something hideous when she offered a, hardly veiled threat, "wait until you leave the country."

I applaud Townsend's handling of the situation. She talked back without fighting. She didn't slap Ostenpenko's hand away. She didn't slap her, spit on her or drop her like a hot potato. She responded like the true class act that she is.

Should we let it all end here? You know, athletes in the heat of the moment are liable to say anything. Or, it just shows Ostapenko's competitive spirit.

Or, should we call it for what it is? Mean, hateful, spiteful and maybe laced with racism?

I propose that an example be set at some point, to abruptly halt the race-hate, class(less)-hate we all witnessed yesterday. Hell, Ostanpenko is 28 years old and has won $18 million dollars as a professional tennis player. She has won the French Open and the US Open in doubles. She knows better. But entitlement allowed her to act a fool.

Taylor Townsend is 29 years old. She really possessed every right to respond with physicality as she was being verbally assaulted with a finger pointed inches from her face. But she did not. She has won over six million dollars as a professional player, winning Grand Slams twice in doubles- once in the Australian Open and the other at Wimbledon.

Taylor Townsend could have had a different kind of singles win yesterday, beyond defeating Ostapenko on the court. But she was raised differently in a black family in Smyrna, GA. Ostapenko was raised in Riga, Latvia. And the word to Latvia today is this, "tell your girl you raised, we don't do that here, without repercussions."
Ostapenko should be suspended from active play for at least six months. If we do not begin making hate-filled, potentially racist people pay for their hate, then....we ain't seen nothing yet. Nothing.

Somebody ought to say something!!

PENALTY- six-month suspension and donate $100,000 to a black woman's non-profit organization focused on building self-esteem among black girls.

And go learn how to be a decent human being!

08/03/2025

Hampton Universiry visits Second Baptist Church of Evanston.

01/20/2024

It's January 20th. My Dad would be 107 today. He died in 1991, thirty-three years ago. I was living in Princeton and nine years into ministry service at First Baptist Church. Dad had been ill for awhile with a leg amputated below the knee from diabetes. A few months prior I remember seeing him going into physical therapy. We helped him through the front door, down the steps and into the car. It struck me then, that none of us had ever helped our father before. He was the helper. He was the one all nine of his children called on, when we needed help. But there he was saying, "Help me, Mike."

I choose not to remember these last words as the most significant words spoken by Dad. There is so much more that he spoke, and so much more that he did that stand as a testament and memorial to Clarence Lee Nabors, born in Okalona, Mississippi on this day in 1917.

Dad went to a nearly all white school- Roosevelt in Kalamazoo and made friends with kids from all races. We were taught to do the same thing. He went to Central High and had to quit just months before graduating.

He chose to get a job in FDR's New Deal Plan. Conservation Civilian Camps sprang up during the Great Depression, providing employment and a few meager wages to help starving families. Dad quit school to help his parents and three younger siblings put food on the table. He planted spruce trees along roads in northern Michigan. Even now, as I travel up U.S. 131 towards Traverse City and Mackinaw Island, I can hear the laughter of Dad echoing through the branches of those trees that are still standing.

Dad fell in love with Mom and against all odds, they eloped and married. He was southern and dark. She was northern and light. He was Baptist. She was AME. She came from a position of some wealth and he came from poverty. None of that mattered. They had nine children and I am the youngest.

Dad worked the night shift and woke us all up for school when he arrived home each morning.

Dad was an incredible athlete and taught us all how to hit and catch a softball, throw a football and even shoot a basketball.

Dad was there, every single day and night as we all matriculated and graduated from high school.

Dad was a grill Master, a great cook and he baked the best gingerbread and sweet potato pies ever made. People came from all over town for his ribs, barbecue sauce and baked goods.

Dad was a Deacon and taught Men's Bible Study at the old Galilee Missionary Baptist Church. I never remember him shouting AMEN or Halleulujah. He left that for Mom.

Dad loved his daughters and was a fierce protector of all six of them. He taught his three sons by example, how to be loving and responsible as a husband and father.

Dad also had fun. He loved bid wisk and pinochle. He loved music and was most fond of Muddy Waters and Gladys Knight.

What I remember most is his presence.
What I miss most is his presence.

How grateful all of his children are, for the gift God gave us in our Dad!

08/22/2023

08/07/2022

05/19/2022

The Buffalo Massacre

The Buffalo Massacre on Saturday, May 14th is an American tragedy. The death of completely innocent people engaged for the regular task of shopping at their neighborhood’s local grocery store, should compel our nation to lament and repent of its greatest sin. Racism is America’s greatest sin. Lest we think this is just a racial issue between blacks and whites, let me add that racism is inclusive of America’s other, equally repugnant sins. Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, Islamaphobia, anti-Immigration, Native American genocide and sexism are all connected to racism. As a way of maintaining power and control, a historical division was intentionally created to pit these groups against one another. People in other groups who have also suffered because of discrimination hesitate to agree when Blacks and others suggest America’s greatest sin is racism. Many Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, women and the LGBTQI community may take exception to such wording, given the history of their own suffering and the horrible violence committed against them.

To clarify, America’s greatest sin has historically been named racism for at least half a dozen reasons;

1) No one is completely sure but most accounts suggest that between 2 and 10 million human beings were kidnapped from their homes and villages on the continent of Africa over a period of two hundred years. This number is so large until it ought to make this event among the most egregious crimes against humanity ever committed.

2) Africans were forced into an institution of slavery that completely negated every form of their independence. This institution, the African Slave Trade was constructed specifically to eliminate Black people’s freedom and to use them as chattel for building a nation.

3) At one point slavery in the United States was the primary production of well over fifty percent of its economy. Every earned dollar from such production (cotton, to***co, sugar, etc.) went to whites.

4) From at least 1619 to 1863 it was perfectly legal to own another human being if that person was Black. Ownership meant treating “owned” human beings in any matter one felt appropriate, including selling, ra**ng, punishing, starving, and killing.

5) An entire system and structure of injustice was built to justify and support slavery. This included the participation of nearly all European countries. The system was political, social, economic and religious. Each sector became interwoven in a strategically planned theory of racist division intended to teach that whites are superior and blacks inferior. This system was so carefully strategized and constructed until it remains deeply cemented in United States culture in 2022.

6) Today, racism invades virtually every arena of the public and private sectors in the United States; education at every level from Pre-K through graduate school, businesses and the corporate world from start up entrepreneurial endeavors to Fortune 500 companies, the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government, and religion.

Racism is so sweeping and thoroughly interwoven in our nation, until it cannot help but have the accurate definition of “America’s Greatest Sin.” And just Saturday, we learned once more how sin is directly linked to evil. Racism is not a poison because not all poison is fatal. If we have not learned anything, we should at least know that racism is fatal. It destroyed villages, crushed family structures, rooted out cultural affinities and dehumanized an entire group of human beings because of the color of their skin. Racism forced one race into labor to enrich another race. Racism sought to normalize the most brutal acts; kidnapping, r**e, murder and lynching, hatred, cruelty, prejudice and most repugnant of all- the false theory of white supremacy.

Payton Gendron, the 18 year-old savage murderer is not an anomaly. He is another card carrying member of one of the 98 white nationalist groups, 733 active hate groups and part of over 5,000 white supremacist incidents committed in the United States. He is another Dylan Roof, savage murderer of nine human beings at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston. He is another Kim Potter who killed Daunte Wright, Adam Coy who killed Andre Hill, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins who killed Manuel Ellis, Garrett Rolfe and Devin Brosnan who killed Rayshard Brooks, Derek Chauvin who killed George Floyd, Brett Hankison who killed Breonna Taylor, Aaron Dean who killed Atatiana Jefferson and the list goes on and on and on. Gendron is human, but he has donned the oppressive garment of racism that makes him a beast. And Saturday this beast drove 200 miles from his home, fueled by racist animus evoked by all of these white nationalist hate groups. He drove into the parking lot of Tops Friendly Markets store in a Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. This animal wore tactical gear (bullet proof vest) to ensure maximum damage just in cased he was fired upon. He got out of his car and with great deliberation aimed at whoever was in view, shooting four people. He went in the store where a security officer confronted him, shooting and killing the officer. He walked through the store taking aim and shooting. On Saturday, May 14, Gendron shot and killed;

Roberta A. Drury- 32 (described by her family as jubilant, happy and always the first to say hello, caring, helpful)

Margus D. Morrison- 52 (school bus aide, caretaker for his mother)

Andre Mackneil- 53 (brother, cousin and father who went to pick up a birthday cake for his three year old son on his birthday)

Aaron Salter- 55 (retired lieutenant from the Buffalo Police Traffic Division)

Geraldine Talley- 62 (mother of two children, excellent cook and baker, executive assistant)

Celestine Chaney- 65 (went to the store to buy shrimp and ingredients for strawberry shortcake, had overcome two aneurysms and breast cancer)

Heyward Patterson- 67 (a man of worship and deacon at State Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, father of three, driver of the church van, drove people to Tops who were unable to drive themselves)

Katherine Massey- 72 (community activist, advocate for gun control, part of a non-profit group to help historically disadvantaged individuals and their children)

Pearl Young- 77 (wife of a pastor, substitute teacher, Sunday school teacher, head of a food pantry)

Ruth Whitfield- 86 (center of her family who had to take several days to share news of her death with her husband)

Zaire Goodman- 20, Jennifers Warrington- 50 and Christopher Braden- 55, were all injured.

Racist indiscriminate killing, is never, ever indiscriminate. Saturday’s malicious act of great violence not only killed ten people and injured three others, but it altered families and an entire community and city. Each person who died was part of a circle that included family members and friends. Each of those persons were directly influenced and they also have an extended circle of friends and associates who have been affected.

As a nation we cannot just condemn racism and then point to this savage as a lone wolf. Gendron is no lone wolf. Rather, he represents the millions of ignorant, brutal, savage animals who comprise these white nationalists and active hate groups in our nation. They must be wiped off the face of the earth. They are a scourge to human civilization, a plague on forward progress, a menace to society, a curse on all people of goodwill, a plague on people of every race and hue and the personification of evil. They are not sick. They are not misled. They are not torchbearers of white civilization. They are filthy, putrid, rank, detestable monsters. If we do not end their ways, then this present dark night of horror will turn into a permanent future where hatred and cruelty are the order of the day.

Every government resource; the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department, Congress and the President must have the courage to unite, condemn this madness and crush every single white racist hate group in the nation. Send their leaders to prison. End all of their social media platforms. Track their members and name them in public. Shut down all their businesses. Stop all loans and government subsidies going to any member of these groups. Track those who are wealthy and end any of their contributions to organizations, elected officials or houses of worship. If we do not do all of this, we are merely playing with racists. And they must never be played with again.

Rev. Dr. Michael Nabors
President
Evanston/North Shore NAACP

Pastor
Second Baptist Church of Evanston

03/01/2022

We, members of the Evanston clergy, stand with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. From the very beginning, we have opposed Russian intervention in