Shelby Nashe: Expansive History in the Confines of Uncle Nearest

I am from Tennessee; however, the city I’m from is slightly more culturally diverse than Shelbyville, Tennessee. I’ve seen confederate flags throughout my childhood; billowing on the porches of houses, waving above statues, even on the license plates of pick-up trucks— I’ve quite literally seen them everywhere. The prevalence of Confederate flags significantly increases the more you go into rural areas of Tennessee, and that’s why I significantly avoid them at all costs. This deep-seated racism and anti-blackness that’s rooted in Tennessee is the exact reason why I fled to Atlanta, and I started to forget what it was like to actively encounter racism or microaggressions daily. The readings we do can accurately depict racism; however, traveling back to Tennessee and opening my eyes (Yes, I was sleeping on the bus) to the sight of multiple confederate flags billowing in the wind. It almost felt shocking. Being in Atlanta made me feel like there was heavy progression and activism in the Black community, but driving past those flags put into perspective that there hasn’t been much national progression in the way I thought there was. I felt as though the past is very much present in these rural parts of the South. After all, Uncle Nearest Distillery—a place that we admire as a revolutionary statement for the Black community—is situated right next to the city of Lynchburg. The traveling between Atlanta and Tennessee has let me gain the perspective that there are places that deliberately choose to live in the past, and it ties to the present by making more reeling back the progression of more developed cities. Reopening the story and legacy of Uncle Nearest undoubtedly cost a lot of time and resources. Even though there may be a high financial burden, the journey of discovering Uncle Nearest’s legacy probably filled the hearts of the owners of Uncle Nearest and may have allowed them to feel closer to their ancestors. I do believe that it’s important to have your entrepreneurship endeavors be in the realm of something you’re passionate about, but it’s important not to allow passion to cloud the judgment of your financial decisions. In order to be responsible for entrepreneurship and for the brand,you must do right by the product, the brand, and its legacy. I think Uncle Nearest does a great job at properly presenting the legacy of Uncle Nearest and advertising the brand of Uncle Nearest, but they’ve invested too much money into the company that it might end up tarnishing the legacy of Uncle Nearest due to their misappropriation of funds. 

Shelby Nashe