The lights remain off in New York City. The poor, as always, find a way to manage. The rich, the wealthy, those with credit cards and steady jobs, can stay in hotels or find a way to remain safely at home.
The suburbanites want to fight and complain about not having gas.
The poor, those who are predominantly black and brown in a city whose class divides were laid bare by Super Storm Sandy, cannot use electronic bank transfer cards (otherwise known as food stamps) to eat. There are no riots. People soldier on and try to help each other.
The dreams of the White Right in which black and brown people, the poor, and those others who have been left behind by a massive transfer of wealth and income upwards to the top 1 percent while the middle class dies on the vine, and the underclass remains forgotten and ignored, remain unfulfilled.
There are no opportunities (yet) for the White Right, Free Republic, Tea Party GOP base of former Reagan Democrats, angry white men, and gun nut extremists, to go on their shooting sprees where they hunt down "Minority Urban Youths" for sport. I guess many of them are either stuck out on Long Island, Jersey, or Queens where they are fighting each other over gasoline.
This has not stopped some of the fantasy hate mongers on the Right from focusing on a few cases of obligatory knucklehead behavior--which can in turn be exaggerated into tales of rampaging mobs of black looters. The political onanism of the White Right is always on display for those willing to stomach their exhibitionist behavior.
This story about 87 year old Margaret Maynard reminds me of the conversations I have accidentally overheard between my mother and her friends:
You have to smile...and be glad that some folks are reaching out to help the most vulnerable among us. But again, the poor are the proverbial miner's canary. In a cashless society, where most people are dependent on electronic debit cards, bank cards, or other devices for monetary exchange, they too are out of the loop when the power goes out. I would imagine only a few have cash monies on hand, hidden at home, in an envelope under the bed, or safely in a can located in the freezer for safe keeping.
Question: who will break first? Those who are already used to doing with less? Or those entitled, comfortable, and well-resourced, living in the exurbs (or in exclusive zip codes in the city) who have little tolerance--or coping skills--for dealing with life's difficulties, however minor?
6 comments:
Checking in from NYC, the "outrage" will come from the Copland enclaves of the NYC Metro area. What I mean by Copland(s) are the nabes that are often populated by white cops, their families, and their fellow working class white Republican brethren. These neighborhoods are an interesting mix of police privilege and entitlement, made up of (relatively) affordable housing that create an insular nature from the perps they have to deal with regularly and those that look just like them. Many of these Coplands is they they're usually shore communities along the south shore of Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, and the original Copland Staten Island. The tragic irony is that these are some of the hardest hit areas, and many are waiting for "the looters to arrive" and exercise a little extrajudicial muscle. If I were a betting man I'd say these are where the gas riots will start.
However for the most part there are the general frustrations that are coming from lack of power in areas, the fracturing of the essential public transportation, and the fear of this economy that has many going above & beyond trying to get to work. However many NYCers have long memories, and after surviving 9/11, the winter of 2010-11, Hurricane Irene, and putting in to perspective of recent events like Katrina. Most of us in the area remain resolute, bite our collective lip and carry on. The rumblings of revolution have not gotten too loud yet, because we're all aware of the work ahead.
@40. Glad to hear you are alright. What is it like where you are? Was the Sylvester Stallone movie of the same name a good read of that world? I personally like the movie a great deal and consider it among his best, but I have not frame of reference save for places like East Haven and West Haven in CT which seemed to have a similar vibe.
@CDV. I made it through unscathed. My folks out in LI are without power & all that come along with it. I had my pad in Queens open for relief, but now with gas becoming such a a scarce commodity, travel has to be well planned and executed.
The movie helped advance the term, but it represented more of the "well off" of that ilk. However the premise of the fiefdom it creates is the same.
I care about these dear people who have had their lives changed.... Thank you for caring about them....and sharing their stories....
The White Right sees Big Sandy as Obama's Katrina. They are juxtaposing his photo-op on the Jersey shore with dumpster-diving and suffering in NYC.
And Benghazi will not go away.
[According to the White House pool report, Ohioans greeted the president with some unfriendly signs this morning as he headed to the Franklin County fairgrounds:
Motorcade passed small groups of onlookers, including a slightly larger cluster holding signs related to Benghazi such as: “We won’t stand down …Benghazi” and “What are you hiding?”]
you seriously need some help....
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