Exercising Empathy

If you are among those who've been able to work from home during this crisis, you might have noticed in early April that you were getting COVID gut—an extra pound or more, likely because walking is gone from your daily routine, and maybe because you're doing some anxiety eating, too. Amid all the pain of this emergency, this is an embarrassingly minor, solvable problem. Go for a walk, Jarrett. And take it easy on the cold cuts.

A harder problem is what to do about the people protesting the shutdown, screaming at nurses, claiming that this is all a hoax. Or those who have no sympathy for undocumented immigrants, or who get defensive about racial disparities in how's this virus has hit.

You yell an epithet at the TV screen or dish out a devastating counter-attack on Twitter, and feel much better. And then another one pops up.

It's not profound, but here's my new strategy: I'm trying to find something in those totally ridiculous arguments that is, boiled to its purest form, not ridiculous at all—maybe something that, if you were in their shoes, would change how you saw the world. We all want to provide for our families. We all deal with fear differently. We all resent it when we hear (maybe incorrectly) someone telling us our pain is less worthy than others'.

Finding this empathy anchor isn't about rationalizing those arguments. It doesn't mean those deep sentiments are accurate or useful, that there are no bad guys, that we can all be friends. But understanding the real—perhaps even decent?—place some of those deeply harmful ideas come from might give us a way to actually talk to our opponents. At the very least, it preserves their humanity. It keeps the pile of people we have totally dismissed from blocking out the sun.

Yes, some vicious minority of the shouters might offer no humanity to latch onto. That will be clear if we try to separate their volume from their logic. If nothing else, we all have plenty of time to think about it. Maybe on our next walk.

Stay healthy,
Jarrett Murphy, executive editor

Housing Worry for Laborers as New York’s Farms Slip Deeper into Trouble
Undocumented migrant farm workers are facing evictions as farms in upstate New York encounter financial losses, according to farm worker advocacy groups.

It’s Newcomers vs. Veteran Pols in Race for Bronx Congressional Seat
All eight candidates on Thursday's debate stage are people of color, and three are women. Four are current or former public officials, while the others aren't—and that proved to be one of the few points of differentiation that any of the candidates drew.

Slow Start for City Fund to Help the Undocumented as Private Money Dries Up
Likely CBO partners have not received detailed information from the city about how the immigrant emergency relief program will operate.

Brooklyn Congressional Primary Rematch Plays Out on a Changed Landscape
Two years ago, neophyte candidate Adem Bunkedekko came within 1,700 votes of ousting Yvette Clarke. They meet again this year. But they have company.

New Version of Cuomo’s Evictions Ban Seen as Weaker
Did the governor’s new moratorium put ‘tens of thousands of New Yorkers’ at risk of being booted out of their homes?

Rent Board’s Subtle Move Revives ‘Vacancy Bonus’
A one-word change in a preliminary document could lead to a court fight over what the 2019 rent law really said.

City’s Basement Apartment Program Buried by COVID-19 Budget Cuts
The program aimed to test ways to legalize basement apartments as a way to create new, sanctioned affordable housing units for tenants and help the moderate-income homeowners who might rent some of the spaces out.

Read our in-depth coverage of the COVID-19 crisis here.

Voices of New York

Businesses Begin to Reopen in Sunset Park’s Chinatown
On a recent weekday, the scene on Eighth Avenue was reminiscent of the hustle and bustle before the pandemic. Between 60th and 56th streets about half the shops had reopened, with fresh fruit and vegetable vendors pitching their wares to customers, World Journal reports.

Opinion: The Way We Visit Chinatown Planted Seeds for Today’s Discrimination
'Nowhere is America’s problematic relationship to Chinese-Americans more apparent than on Doyers Street in Chinatown, Manhattan. To many, it's the Bloody Angle.'

Opinion: The Life of a Public Defender When COVID is on Offense
Men take the jail phone one by one to ask me questions. They beg me to contact their families so I can tell their families that they love them in case they die.’

Opinion: COVID-19 and NYC’s Heart of Darkness
'We’ll never learn the names of people found dead in the subway or in their Rikers cell, preventable casualties of public austerity and incalculable racism.'

Opinion: Cuomo’s New Order Opens the Door to Evictions
'Instead of protecting tenants, the order puts the onus on tenants to prove they are entitled to not be sued or evicted.'

Opinion: Correcting NYC’s Health Disparities Starts With How We Do Contact Tracing
‘Public health dictates that the persons making the contact must be culturally competent, understand and speak the languages of the communities they are approaching. ‘

Opinion: Spare CUNY, and Save the Education our Heroes Deserve
' These cuts don’t have to happen; in fact, this could be a moment to reverse the decades of debilitating disinvestment— lifting up the very people whose labor, smarts, and persistence make New York what it is. '

Opinion: Social Workers Add a Holistic Touch to Contact Tracing
‘Social workers will help bridge the gaps between a healthcare system that often has failed people and the need to quell this pandemic.’

Opinion: A Public Letter to Public Officials on NYCHA
‘As we know, the pandemic hit New York extremely hard; and yet unevenly. NYCHA tenants, including those in Astoria, Queensbridge, Ravenswood and Woodside Houses, are among the hardest hit.’

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