These are challenging times, and there is no leader to be found.

This is day... I'm not sure, I lost count....let's say day 14 of my "shelter in place". Social distancing is clearly working here in America, because according to some of the experts thousands more people would die if we weren't taking these mandates seriously.

I say good for you America. I knew we could do it. We will learn to adjust to whatever circumstances we are forced to live in. It's not easy, but, at least for now, we are coping. 

Now of course,  as is always the case in these divided states of America, it's not all good. We knew that their would be some challenges.

"Kip Diggs glanced at his reflection in the rearview mirror before heading into the grocery store: a baby-blue bandanna — matching his University of North Carolina baseball cap — masked his nose, mouth and salt-and-pepper beard.

The 53-year-old Nashville marketing consultant had chosen his face covering carefully for his trip to Kroger on Sunday, his first outing since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines advising Americans to cover their faces to slow the spread of covid-19.

“As an African American man, I have to be cognizant of the things I do and where I go, so appearances matter,” Diggs said. “I have pink, lime green, Carolina blue so I don’t look menacing. I want to take a lot of that stigma and risk out as best I can.”

A recent report of a police officer following young black men who wore masks while shopping has amplified fears among people of color of being profiled as criminals or gang members. Civil rights leaders, politicians and community activists worry that concerns of racial bias will discourage black people from wearing masks to protect themselves and others, further increasing their exposure to a virus that is disproportionately infecting and killing African Americans. 

“This is a powder keg waiting to take shape. And that is the last thing we need dealing with this pandemic,” said Hardie Davis Jr., mayor of Augusta, Ga., and president of the African American Mayors Association, citing high rates of infection among black residents in cities including Chicago nd Detroit, as well as parts of rural Georgia such as Albany. His association plans to release recommendations this week on how best to communicate CDC guidelines to the black community.

In Wood River, Ill., two black men wearing surgical masks recorded themselves being followed by a police officer as they left a Walmart last month.

“He just followed us from outside, told us that we cannot wear masks,” one of the men said in the video, posted on YouTube on March 18, which shows the officer walking behind the pair with a hand resting on his gun. “The coronavirus is real. This police officer just put us out for wearing masks and trying to be safe.”

The Washington Post could not reach the men for comment, but they described the encounter to the local newspaper as “terrifying” and said they felt the officer was stalking them as if they were “prey.”

Wood River Police Chief Brad Wells told The Post the incident is being investigated internally, with the assistance of the local NAACP branch, after the video drew more than 175,000 views.

Wells said the officer approached the men outside the Walmart on March 15 because he “believed the two individuals to be acting suspiciously.” The officer asked for their identification and erroneously told them that city ordinance prohibited the wearing of masks, Wells said.

“This statement was incorrect and should not have been made,” Wells said in a written statement. “The city does not have such an ordinance prohibiting the wearing of a mask. In fact, I support the wearing of a nonsurgical mask or face covering when in public during the COVID-19 pandemic period.”[Source] 

It's a damn shame! Black men shouldn't have to be making these types of decisions. Whether to risk our lives to go out and get food, or to stay at home and starve to death. Clearly we need the masks to cut down on the chances of contracting the virus, but then, if we wear the masks......well, you just read the article. 

And then there is the challenge of having this current president. This man, who is supposed to be leading this nation through a time of crisis, is actually more concerned with the ratings of his nightly briefings, than he is with the almost 17,000 dead Americans (at the time of this post) as a result of this horrible virus. That's three times as many American lives lost to this virus in a matter of weeks than the entire war in Iraq. Let that sink in for a minute. 

So as they dig mass graves in his hometown (see the first pic above), the president of the United States brags about his television ratings, being number one on facebook, and makes jokes about sex with models on live television when he should be comforting the nation. 

"The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes) & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 9, 2020"

That is not leadership, it's lunacy.  

*Images from syracuse.com & the grio.com.