What went right this week: hope for the climate, plus more positive news

The pastor of a church that was at the heart of the civil rights movement has become the first black senator to represent Georgia, a former Confederate state that fought for slavery during the American Civil War.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, defeated his Republican rival, Kelly Loeffler, in one of the state’s two second-round elections on Thursday, a day that was overshadowed by the assault on the Washington Capitol building by Trump supporters. .

In her victory speech, Warnock recognized the social progress that had been made in Georgia, where her mother worked many years ago as a cotton picker. “The 82-year-old hands that used to pick someone else’s cotton went to the polls and elected their youngest son to be a United States senator,” he said.

Image: Raphael Warnock / Creative Commons