This week, I took my
9-month old son and dog
for a walk along Fourth
Avenue in Bay Ridge, and
went shopping at our local supermarket.
These were eyeopening
experiences in seeing
the effects of this pandemic on
our communities and in realizing
the uncertainty that lies
ahead.
Three of the businesses
around the corner from our
home that are permitted to
be open and were last week,
are now closed. Positano, one
of our favorite restaurants,
and Philadelphia Grille were
not even open for deliveries
and take out anymore. The
deli nearby also had their
gates down.
Further along, padlocks
were on the gates of Fort
Hamilton Triangle Park. At
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano
the Dunkin Donuts on 92nd
Street, which usually has a
full parking lot and is standing
COURIER L 12 IFE, APRIL 10-16, 2020
room-only inside during
the mid-afternoon, there was
only one customer. There
was also a young man begging
for money that an employee
had to ask to leave. At
the shuttered car-wash next
door, there were three homeless
men sleeping where cars
are usually vacuumed before
going through.
These sights will only become
more widespread as
this nightmare continues.
Not surprisingly, burglaries
across the city have skyrocketed
as people become
more desperate for food and
cash.
Will our local businesses
be able to bounce back whenever
all this ends? Will people’s
growing desperation
lead to more civil unrest with
a short staffed NYPD due to
the virus and a mayor emptying
out our jails? These are
legitimate questions.
We also must worry about
our seniors — not only about
their vulnerability to the
deadly effects of the virus,
but also their ability to sustain
themselves.
They are justifi ably afraid
to go to the supermarket and
must rely on calling in their
food orders for delivery. However,
as best as they try, supermarkets
can’t keep up. As
I shopped at our local one, the
phones rang constantly and I
saw employees furiously putting
together these phone orders.
One employee told me they
had 150 phone orders and
there was a three day wait
period. Unfortunately, this
is the only way many seniors
will get food.
The wait time will probably
only increase as stores
become more short-staffed
due to employees getting sick
or just growing more afraid
to come to work.
Just like our doctors
and nurses, fi rst responders,
sanitation workers, and
non-profi t institutions, those
keeping stores functioning
are playing an essential role
for our city to survive during
these times.
If any area can survive
this and come out stronger, it
is New York.
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican and
Democrat elected offi cials,
and has been an adjunct Professor
of Political Science for
over 15 years. Follow him on
Twitter @BobCapano.
OPINION
Can New York survive the harsh
realities of the current pandemic?
The problem is not that coronavirus is racist,
the problem is that America is racist
Coronavirus isn’t intelligent,
it doesn’t prefer or
discriminate, it’s just a
virus. Yet it continues to expose
shameful inequalities of
our society.
It’s increasingly clear
that African-Americans are
disproportionately dying of
COVID-19, just as it’s been
clear for a while that racial
disparities are one of many
facts that most Trump supporters
are totally unwilling
to face.
The surgeon general did
acknowledge this disparity on
Tuesday, mostly because it’s
already so glaring. Milwaukee
is only 26 percent black,
but 73 percent of its dead are.
Chicago is 32 percent black,
but 67 percent of its deaths are.
The two cities so far hit hardest
by the virus besides New
York City are Detroit and New
Orleans, two of the blackest
cities in America. In Louisiana,
32 percent of the population
is black, but 70 percent of
its dead are; in Michigan the
fi gures are 14 and 41 percent.
African-Americans are
dying not because they are
innately susceptible to coronavirus
but because their underlying
health conditions are
worse, their access to medical
care is worse, and they are far
more likely to have those essential,
blue-collar jobs that
increase exposure. Coronavirus
isn’t racist; America is
racist.
For centuries, it has been
popular to blame the bad fortune
of African-Americans
on their own behavior. I’m
sure this will continue. But
of all the pictures I’ve seen of
people fl outing social distancing,
none of them have been of
Black people.
As I write this, 33 MTA employees
have died of COVID-19
— the most of the municipal
agencies. MTA employees are
disproportionately male, middle
aged, black, and likely to
develop lung conditions. So
they keep this city running,
but have four aggravating
factors that make them more
likely to die now.
Rikers Island has the highest
infection rate in the world,
at over 4 percent already. But
so far it’s the correctional offi
cers — mostly black — who
guard that island jail that
have been paying the ultimate
price. Seven correctional offi -
cers have died so far, and six
of them were black or Afro-
Latino.
To my shame, besides a
very brief mention in my fi rst
coronavirus column four
weeks ago, I have not until now
decried the terrible conditions
in New York’s jails and prisons.
Meanwhile, my conservative
counterpart at this paper
wrote his last two columns entirely
about the importance
of keeping people locked up.
During the same two weeks
those columns were written,
NYPD statistics show crime
fell by 20 percent compared to
last year.
Many will not accept these
facts, just as they won’t accept
that Trump has bungled a response
to the virus. They will
blame China, or the World
Health Organization, or Bill
Gates. They will proclaim
their faith in hydroxychloroquine
as a treatment, ignoring
that it causes blindness
and heart attacks. They live
on a different planet. Meanwhile,
in our country, in reality,
people are dying because
of the neglect of our leaders.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly District and
a political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo