Almost four years ago, at a manual Baptist church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,

Reverend John Mendez was giving his Sunday sermon.

I am disappointed, but I am not discouraged.

And I ain't no ways tied.

He was disappointed in the election results.

A couple months before, Donald Trump had surprised everyone by winning the presidency.

But even as a Democrat, at age 67, Mendez felt more or less like he was witnessing just

another chapter in American history.

It's sort of like a pendulum that swings from progress to the lack of progress.

And having gone through that on several different occasions, I can realistically say I can believe

in the American people.

That was then.

Four years later, here's what Mendez told me when we reconnected this week.

I didn't realize how widespread and how impactful President Trump would be in terms of a more

overt form of racism and attack on our democratic principles.

Have you been heartened by the response to that, the Black Lives Matter protests, the

vocal sentiment that this is not what we're going to stand for?

Let me just say I feel extremely proud of our young people of all races that have come

together to raise these protests.

And I think they're extremely important, but I also think that it's important that we

just don't stop at protests, but that we fight for policy change.

That's one of his biggest hopes for the next four years.

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