Uncertain times
New Yorkers unsure how this summer will play out for them.
Memorial Day weekend in New York City usually marks the beginning of a vibrant summer to come.
People set up smoky barbecue grills on stoops and in parks. They rush to the city’s sandy shores when beaches open. They wait on line — no, not “in line” — to ride the Wonder Wheel in Coney Island. They ride bicycles up and down bike paths across the city. They collect the neighborhood kids and head to the public pools.
The weekend serves as a peek into what the city will look like in the coming months. A taste of summer that keeps New Yorkers looking forward. But this year Memorial Day weekend occurs under the shadow of the coronavirus. For nearly three months, the city has been a shell of itself. The virus has hit New York especially hard, quickly turning this dense, energetic city into the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
There have been more than 200,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city and more than 20,000 New Yorkers have died. The virus, shining a bright light on pre-existing inequities, has been especially devastating in black and Latino communities, making them home to the highest rates of virus deaths in the city, according to the New York City Health Department.
The pandemic has also created a hunger crisis. Nearly 1 in 4 New Yorkers needs food, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. New Yorkers also need money: Unemployment claims have spiked 2,637 percent in the city since March.
Wealthier areas of the city haven’t experienced the same level of devastation. They have not seen it either: Many residents of the wealthiest neighborhoods have flocked to vacation homes in the Hamptons or other beach towns and upstate hamlets.
The New Yorkers who remained were the same New Yorkers who would normally host those stoop barbecues, starting Friday afternoon and through dusk on Memorial Day.
They are the ones who sell the hot dogs, drive the ice cream trucks, staff the lifeguard stands, drive the city buses, care for our elderly and clean the boardwalks. They hold jobs that were essential before this crisis and that continued to be instrumental in keeping New York City humming.
These are also the New Yorkers who have lost their lives.
People like Ferdi German, a subway car inspector for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Nita Lee, a Florida transplant who helped care for a generation of AIDS patients in the 1980s. Raymond Copeland, a sanitation worker from the South Bronx. Dr. Julie Butler, a Harlem veterinarian who never turned a patient away. Idris Bey, a former Marine and an emergency worker who responded to the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The Bronx’s own Fred the Godson, an incisive rapper with a big heart.
Memorial Day was established as a national holiday by Congress in 1971 as a way to honor the fallen soldiers of all wars. But before then, the city celebrated Decoration Day, which began three years after the end of the Civil War in Waterloo, New York. Businesses would close and flags flew at half-staff to remember the lost soldiers of that war. By the end of the century, people across several states would spend the end of May decorating the graves of the dead with flowers.
This Memorial Day, New Yorkers might not be able to strike a match and light their grills. Children would have to stand 6 feet apart from one another for the ice cream truck. Beachgoers might only dip their toes in the sand instead of jumping into the first waves of summer. The raucous laughter of city children playing at public pools would not be echoing from blocks away.
People will not be able to enjoy the delicious homemade burgers by the neighborhood cook, stoops would be emptier than normal and those venturing out would have faces covered.
But New Yorkers have a reputation to uphold. We take care of one another. We can be shaken but not broken. We don’t give up and we do not run. We know that better days will arrive. Bars, restaurants and stores will reopen. Being New York tough is about being ready for the new tomorrow, whatever that tomorrow looks like.