Some people claim that the differences between blacks and whites, blacks and Asians, or blacks and black immigrants result from discriminatory policies. These people claim the persistent wealth gap between blacks and others is responsible for blacks’ low quality-of-life issues. Many who appeal to this claim embrace Critical Race Theory or antiracism as the reason and antidote for the divergences between blacks and their multiethnic peers.

But is that true? Is discrimination the reason for these disparities? Not really. Sure, one can claim that bigots still exist in America, but individual bigots aren’t at the same level of segregation, which was the paramount example of institutional racism in America.

We had a President under attack and a VP with lots of questions about their ability to serve. We were fighting what some called a proxy war against a large competitor on the grounds of a county that many couldn’t have found on a map before the conflict. Gas prices were going up, and we were about to be held hostage by gas-producing countries. This was causing an economic and employment crisis, and there were political riots in the country.

Five years ago tomorrow I wrote this.

She is still gone. I am still here. My world is still lonelier than it was five years ago.

In December, nearly a year ago, I wrote that my husband had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia. However, that was not correct, we found when we visited a specialized cancer center. He was quite sick, but it was a liver problem and some kind of blood cell problem…just not cancer.

He died on October 27, 2022, a little over two weeks ago. We had a lovely funeral here for him. Our five children were all able to come, and our four grandchildren. Many friends have comforted me in person, and I’ve heard from many more via the internet and snail-mail.