40+ Reasons a Change Is Gonna Come

When we look back on 2020, and Lord knows looking back on it can’t happen soon enough, we will remember the fears and losses surrounding COVID, and the precariousness of our job and school situations. We’ll certainly recall the anger that welled up within after each unanswered assault on yet another Black body, amid a climate in which those fostering racial hate felt emboldened and legitimized.

It hasn’t been pretty, but then again, neither has America’s history. And where we are on the continuum of that history is in a place of profound change. Sam Cooke’s 1964 protest anthem told us that a change was gonna come. Well, there’s no denying the volatility of this moment.

Change doesn’t always show up the way we want it to. It can be slow and unpredictable, at times seeming to move in the wrong direction and in ways that squelch the spirit. But if you believe in God or a higher power, you know that what was meant for evil can work out for good and that ultimately, this too shall pass.

It’s been a hard year. Let’s breathe and reflect on these hopeful moments.

And while the COVID pause and has seriously rocked our world, it hasn’t been all bad. It made us slow down and gave us a chance to bond with loved ones. It helped us reexamine what’s important in our lives and allowed us to move forward with increased intentionality. And it reminded us that we must be the change that we want to see in the world. Martin Luther King Jr. said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. In slow, sometimes imperceptible ways, that bend is happening, even now. It’s been a hard year. Let’s breathe and reflect on these hopeful moments:

DJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantine took us out of isolation and into party mode.

A record number of Black women (at least 130) ran for Congress.

Books like How to Be an Antiracist are selling out online and in bookstores. 

A young Missouri sister convinced the Merriam Webster editors to update the definition of racism to include systematic oppression.

Princeton University’s board of trustees decided to rename two important campus facilities because “Woodrow Wilson’s racist thinking and policies make him an inappropriate namesake.” Newly renovated Hobson College, named for a Black alumna — Ariel Investments co-CEO and philanthropist Mellody Hobson — is scheduled to open in 2026.

Apps like Black Wallet and Black Nation, which promote Black-owned businesses, have seen a surge in popularity, and daily downloads of EatOkra, a guide to Black-owned restaurants, increased over 4,000 percent in one week. Also, Yelp added a tool to help find them.  

Led by the NBA and the WNBA, major sports leagues including the NFL, MLB and MLS paused play to protest police brutality.

This:

Virtual choirs, including this one featuring Tramaine Hawkins, Erica Campbell and cast members from Greenleaf, helped us get our praise on.

Maryland, Virginia, Colorado and Washington joined California, New York and New Jersey in the fight against hair discrimination by passing the Crown Act. 

On Blackout Day (July 7), over 2 million people didn’t spend any money, unless it was to support Black-owned businesses.

Chicago teens, with financial assistance from the NFL’s Sam Acho and other athletes, transformed a liquor store into a fresh food market.