A new year always marks a time of change, but 2017 is markedly different than most other years before it. West Virginia will have a new governor in office. A new man will be taking over the highest office in the land. There is fear in the hearts of many, both because of the unknown changes lying before us and because of the things that have already been seen.

Most were greatly thrilled to say goodbye to 2016 and to put a year filled with police brutality, racial discrimination, actions of hate and a plethora of celebrity deaths behind us.

In 2016 alone, at least 289 black men were killed by police, according to tracking done by mappingpoliceviolence.org. Racial issues were not only found on a national scale, but also occurred right in our back yard. James Means, 15, was killed by a man who said he was just “getting another piece of trash off the street.”

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 892 hate groups are currently operating in the United States. No, you did not read that number wrong: 892 hate groups. In a country that was built on the foundations of being a melting pot of culture and an environment of acceptance, there are 892 hate groups of all different varieties openly operating.

Last year also saw the deaths of prominent celebrities from all walks of life, from musicians who broke ground for the LGBT community to iconic actresses who advocated for equality to sports reporters who molded the occupation into what it is today. There are far too many lost to name, and we don’t think anyone really wants to relive all of the countless deaths.

The election is still a hot button topic for most, but with 2016 it is something that has to be discussed. The New York Times predicted that Donald Trump had less than a 10 percent chance of winning the presidency just a week before the election. Clearly that poll number, and, for that matter, almost every other poll ran during the election season, was wrong because we now call Trump president-elect, and come Friday he will be our new president.

If 2016 taught us nothing else, it’s that a single pivotal moment can change everything. That moment came with the FBI’s letter stating that they would be reopening the Hillary Clinton case pertaining to her e-mail server, a case that was never officially closed in the first place. A year of campaigning no longer mattered at that point. The moment that letter was released, the outcome of the election was forever changed.

Despite its downfalls, 2016 taught us some valuable lessons: the job of journalists has become more vitally important than ever, there are still great divides in our country based off of issues that should not be issues at all, anything can change in the blink of an eye and we should never take anything for granted.

So may not know now what 2017 will hold, but there is no doubt that it will be an interesting journey filled with valuable lessons, like the year before it.

These challenges are already making themselves apparent, as the GOP moves forward with its plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, despite having no clear plan to replace it. Consequentially, thousands of Americans have taken to the street to protest the ambiguous repeal and replacement plan.

And Trump — always the source of constant controversy — has lashed out at the press moreso than usual in the past weeks, the result of indisputable evidence that Russia influenced the 2016 election and unverified allegations that the Trump campaign worked directly with the Kremlin. Trump has also faced backlash following his attack on U.S. Representative John Lewis, whom Trump referred to as “all talk, no action,” despite Lewis’ extraordinary influence on the Civil Rights movement.

But 2017 is already teaching us that opposition does work when effective. At the onset of the year, the GOP received considerable resistance from outside and within the party when it planned to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent ethics watchdog that receives complaints and refers them to the House committee if investigation is required. Less than a day later, the party rescinded its plans, with constituent phone calls a major motivating factor.

In addition, The Women’s March on Washington, set for the day after Trump’s inauguration, could be one of the largest protests in American history, with over 100,000 attendees planning to attend. Marches are set for nearly 400 other cities as well.

With this in mind, if 2016 was a year of defeat, 2017 is shaping up to be a year of victory in the face ofimpossible forces.