Just as the coronavirus confronts the world with an unprecedented negative reality, so does the spirit of global rebuke of Black oppression create a level of optimism for positive change that no living person has experienced.

For example, this is the first year that anti-racism protests have spread to 380 cities in all 50 states (many with miniscule African American population) as well as 38 countries.

Portraits and statues celebrating the treasonous, pro-slavery confederate army leadership have been, or are in the process of being, removed in cities across the country including New Orleans, Decatur, Ga., Dallas, Norfolk, Va., Washington, D.C. and the capital of the rebellious south during the civil war, Richmond Va., where a towering monument of slave own- er Gen. Robert E. Lee looms ominously.

If we build this new societal structure with one brick at a time, knowing this race is a marathon and not a sprint, we have a genuine opportunity to spare future generations of the intense, brutal oppression we endured.

CIRCLE CITY CONNECTION by Vernon A. Williams is a series of essays on myriad topics that include social issues, human interest, entertainment and profiles of difference makers who are forging change in a constantly evolving society.