Standing under the Jefferson Davis statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, two years ago, never did I actually think it would be torn down. I was there to protest against it and other Confederate statues and white supremacy in Richmond (and everywhere!).

The statue was torn down by protesters the other night. My heart is full. While this was one statue in one city, it was a step. Yet, racism hasn’t gone anywhere. While I say my heart is full, the comments in posts on social media make it loud and clear that hate is standing tall.

We live in a country where there seem to be two basic schools of thought, hate and love. It’s never changed. I worry that it never will. When I was a little girl, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. both spoke of that change.

I’m getting old now, not quite a senior, but almost there. I have the ability to see across the decades now. Looking back, I see Jim Crow. Looking forward, he’s still there. When will we ever learn?