I have not visited this blog since its inception in 2016 and now I have chosen to regenerate it at a crucial time. We’re isolated from one another and limited in where we can go and what we can do including any gatherings. I know that for many people in my family, church is central to their spiritual and mental health. In the neighborhood where I grew up as well as most Black/African American urban neighborhoods, there’s a church on almost every corner (liquor stores too).

I don’t get into debates about the contradictions between what people do and what people believe. Instead, I see the role of churches as central to many people’s lives as a community from which to draw support. 

Not only are we facing C-19 with Black and Brown communities experiencing the highest death rates, we are also under attack via police violence and growing unemployment or underemployment rates. We’re also facing intercommunity violence also which heightens our individual feelings of fear and isolation. As a Black woman, I have to make myself leave the house despite my fears because I will fall into my own pithole of depression if I don’t get out. But each time I make a choice to leave my house, I ask: Am I going to encounter a “Karen”? Will I be pulled over? So nowadays, I avoid too much eye contact and wear cool shades and a covered mouth which conceals most of what I’m feeling. 

What about people like my brother who’s in a nursing home where they aren’t allowed visitors?” Family becomes akin to distant relatives where our interactions are limited or cut off. And yes, I think of my mother whose dual diagnosis would not allow her to understand the situation. She would feel as if I had abandoned her and this hurts me most of all if I dwell on it. She’s not here and in a way I am glad.