What is it like to be handed a small garden trowel and to dig into a jar of earth and carefully transfer some of that earth to another jar, labeled with a name and a date John Henry James, July 12, 1898, lynched outside Charlottesville?

In December, I sat with a group of young African-American men in Charlottesville. All have jobs. Some have multiple degrees. Some are supporting young families. One has a masters from UVA. He is an accountant and, like the other men in the room, feels squeezed by the high price of living in Charlottesville. "I don't know how to get a $500,000 house. I don't know who those houses are for, but it isn't us. We need everyone to have the same opportunity. That means having more big business in Charlottesville. Small tech firms aren't doing it."

I sat down with a farmer and cattleman who is the 13th generation to own the family farm in Appomattox. His father still runs the place, as he says, "taking out loans and buying parts", and has successfully steered the transition from tobacco to livestock. The family has leased grazing land in addition to the 500 acres they have owned for centuries. Beef is an 8-billion-dollar industry in Virginia and the 5th District has the third largest cattle business in the state. As cattle have to eat, the biggest crop in Virginia is grass. There is a lot of discussion about what to do with old tobacco farms Southside and this family's move into cattle is a success story that speaks to both the family's desire to keep the land in agriculture and clear thinking about a thriving market. The farmer laments politicians' lack of interest in cattle. One former Congressman asked him, "Why should I care about cows?" and our current Congressman has proved less than interested in one of the biggest businesses in the district. "I can't get in to see him. We cattlemen are a pretty conservative group and yet his door is closed to us."

I spent Monday morning in Charlottesville with Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer, the young woman who was killed by a white supremacist in Charlottesville on August 12th. Susan taught elementary school for eighteen years and I envy the students who were in her class. She is a woman who truly believes in justice for all.