“All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change. Reparations are change,” town hall facilitator Dr. Marcus Hunter said, opening the event with a tribute to Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel Parable of the Sower.

As I write this column now, right on the heels of Kamala Harris’ loss of the 2024 presidential run, the country appears to be at yet another precipice, with the stakes seeming even more dire than 2016. As we wring our hands and point fingers about how we’ve gotten to this point, the results of this election—as it is for most of the decisions made by this country—will have ripple effects worldwide.