ON DISASTER DISTANCE LEARNING IN NEW YORK CITY
The New York Times recently did a study on confirmed coronavirus cases across the city and found that COVID-19 cases are hitting lower-income neighborhoods the hardest. Some people have taken it to mean that we need to make more concerted efforts to keep these neighborhoods at home. (In some cases, by martial force.) Others have taken it as a sign of indifference as if the denizens of these specific neighborhoods had an opportunity to voice their opinions on this matter. Others still have taken to yelling at pictures of crowded subways and grocery stores as evidence that these neighborhoods simply can’t be bothered with the death toll that’s sure to disproportionately affect their own neighborhoods.
This isn’t all that different from the pre-COVID era, either. Our country should have created policies – and can still create policies – that protect our citizens most directly affected by environmental racism. Those who live closest to pollutants and congestion, those who live in or near asbestos-ridden buildings, those more likely to work the jobs that offend middle-to-upper class sensibilities need help now more than ever. These “essential jobs” are often occupied by the very people who our government has deemed dispensable in their squalor. Should these people not go to work, their bosses and their government will dispose of their ability to survive.
Oh, and the politicians who pundits currently praise created this problem by pretending like these CONTINUE READING: On Disaster Distance Learning in New York City | The Jose Vilson