The City That Never Sleeps, Sleeps on Social Injustice.
So if you haven’t heard, let me catch you up: Last week George Floyd died, since his death, the world has been outraged (rightfully so) and with that, we have decided ” No Justice, No Peace”. What does that mean for America? Well, it meant until we have a charge for the unjust murder of an innocent man, we will make sure NO ONE finds peace in the USA. No one being the United States individual Police Departments. There have been protests EVERYWHERE from New York to Hawaii to Amsterdam and Iceland. When we say No justice, no peace, we meant “until there is justice, yall gon be stressed!” but we are not here to talk about the systematic injustices to people of color in America, we spoke about that on Wednesday, you can find it here.
With protestors have come individuals who also believe this is the opportunity to carry out their anarchy dreams. You’re laughing, I’m so serious. There have been serious looting in all neighborhoods across the country. Places like Target and Louis Vitton have taken hits and some places have completely lost everything.
Due to the state of the country Mayors and Governors have been putting out curfews but NYC never received one. It wasn’t until the Looting in The Bronx that damaged plenty of black and brown owned Mom and Pop shops that NYC decided to give a curfew. The first curfew in 77 years, might I add the last one was about social injustices too. Granted, at first, it was an 11pm curfew but it was still a curfew. We didn’t get a curfew when people were dying at an alarming rate but the second we demand justice New York came through with the aggressive Emergency Alert. *Knock, Knock. Get TF in your houses*
Don’t get me wrong, I love Governor Andrew Cuomo, seriously he’s like NY’s President, but did he really think this would go well.
Aside from the political aspect of it all, NYC has its first curfew and while it started at 11pm it very quickly switched to the early 8pm curfew. Y’all 8PM! I’m still getting ready to link with my girls at 8pm. I don’t even think Magic Hour is open at 8pm like COME ON. We didn’t work well when they shut the trains, and this was for MEDICAL REASONS. Did anyone really think that we would work well when they expected us to be in our homes by 8pm? Shortly after this new curfew was put in place people were still outside, people were still in restricted areas and just as easily as they implemented the curfew, they arrested the people who were outside.
NYC has turned into a bit (I’m being nice) of a police state. It went from being a curfew that essential workers were exempt from, to arresting some of them for being outside past curfew. They began restricting access to subways. Why is this dangerous? The average New Yorker takes anywhere between 30 minutes to over an hour to get home, it’s going to take them longer and they shouldn’t be punished for trying to honor the curfew. Before you think “Call a Lyft, Uber, VIa home” they’re suspended from 8pm. Police are also doing this horrible thing called kettling which has lead to many injuries in Brooklyn and The Bronx. The point of kettling is to get all of the protestors into spaces where they can arrest them. There are many more scary things happening in the city that doesn’t sleep but it isn’t all Anarchy and bad cops.
There were also peaceful instances like the Brooklyn Bridge, but will it last? Probably not, so in the words of many protestors “F@#$ Your Curfew, SMD.”
For the first time in decades, the streets of New York are empty, they are barren because of the fact that America will not speak out to injustices. If you think Times Square was scary because of the fact that COVID forced us home, you will be shaken by the images of NYC when everyone is forced at home.
I want to take a moment to shout out our essential workers who are allowed to leave but still fear for whatever could possibly occur while they take the trip to their jobs to save lives.
That’s the Tea… Get It Before 8pm,
Bri.
