The local paper for the Upper East Side LEARNING TO LIVE AFTER COVID-19 ◄ P.9
WEEK OF JUNE
11-17 11-17 2020
THE NEW ACTIVISTS
PROTESTS
Two NYC college students on the purpose and optimism they found at demonstrations in Manhattan BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
At Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily press briefing on Sunday, June 7, 2020. Photo: Darren McGee / Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
LIFTING THE LOCKDOWN CORONAVIRUS
Reopening begins this week amid differences over timetables and transit questions. A look at the challenges ahead BY MICHAEL ORESKES
New York City begins its climb out of lockdown this week much the way it entered, with its leaders contradicting each other, its business community fragmented and its people eager to do the right thing if they could only be clear what that is. The first phase of bringing the economy back on line felt a little like the last reel of an old British war movie in which the commander and his aide step into the sun after days in the basement of the admiralty unsure whether it was time for din-
ner or breakfast. Officially, of course, dinner or any other meal out is still restricted to pick up or delivery. The first 400,000 workers permitted back are in construction, manufacturing and in wholesale and retail trades that are able to offer curbside pickup of purchased items. This may seem like a lot of workers. But in the economy of New York City, it is less than 9% of the 4.6 million people employed here at this time last year. What began this week was the test of whether a city wounded by the pandemic, propelled by protests and jarred by looting, can build its way back. A look at some key challenges:
For the city’s college students, it had already been an incredibly uncertain time. They spent the last two months stowed away from a dangerous and unpredictable virus, trying to tend to coursework and wondering what the remainder of their college experience might look like. All the while an economic depression looms like a funnel cloud overhead, threatening to touch
ground. The deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of police and self-appointed vigilantes only exacerbated anxieties, adding elements of anguish and anger to their grief. Some Black college-aged activists, though, are finding purpose and optimism in the streets, joining hundreds of thousands who have shown up in New York City and cities around the world over the two weeks as part the Black Lives Matter movement to protest police brutality. “The death of George Floyd was really the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Charlene, who is a 22-year-old medical student at City College
in Harlem. Charlene and her friend Joseph, a 21-year-old student studying politics at Queens College (both requested to go by their first names), have been attending the protests in Manhattan, and have found them to be a source of inspiration. “I’ve been on the ground since Friday night, and it’s truly an extraordinary experience,” said Joseph. “There were so many people, and little kids, as we walked from Harlem to the Lower East Side. That was a 10-mile hike. As we hit the Hudson Parkway highway, I saw many people in the car … people waving their hand in support.”
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At the June 2 protests at One Police Plaza in downtown Manhattan. Photo: Kodakkotei
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Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney calls for student debt forgiveness for COVID-19 heroes. p. 2
THIS SQUIRREL IS STAYING HERE
A City Council candidate on the challenge of remaining in NYC at a tough time. p. 6
Love Life” follows Anna Kendrick as one of “those girls who glide through life with a lipstick and a MetroCard”. p. 7
Who can go back to work was reasonably clear, less so how they should get there.
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Voices 15 Minutes
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Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, June 12 – 8:10 pm. For more information visit www.chabbaduppereastside.com.