Humidity is rising (Mm rising), barometer's getting low (How low, girl?)
According to all sources (What sources now?)
The street's ain’t the place to go…
It’s raining MASKS!!
It seems like it’s raining fists here in New York City.
With each passing week, things are getting uglier and uglier. I’ve experienced it with my own eyes and ears.
On April 17, New York Governor Cuomo wrote an executive order that states all New Yorkers (age 2+) must don a face mask or covering when they venture outside and are unable to socially distance at least six feet from others, including on public transit and for-hire vehicles like taxis and Ubers.
Knowing this, and I follow the rule. On May 1st, my girlfriend and I were packing up my car to head to a park to get some fresh air and exercise. We were just about done and we hear a nice young lady say, “Happy May!” I looked down the street to see who she was talking to, and it just so happened to be me. I was pleasantly surprised and just said hello back to her. What a nice way to start the day!
Off we went.
Due to the fact we never like being in crowded places in general, we went to a nice park in upper Manhattan. As we stopped during our lovely walk to take some photos, two elderly, bitter women turned toward us and yelled, “COME ON, WHERE’S YOUR FUCKING MASKS!” Shocked, we kept doing what we were doing and said nothing in response. We were about 20 feet away from them and were never within 10 feet away from another human being for most of the entire day.
I found the nasty women rather peculiar. Why would they yell at us for not wearing a face covering? We were clearly following the rule and were not bothering a soul. The May Day lady earlier had no face covering and was rather lovely. These two battle axes were mean, smug and ugly.
In my mind, I wanted to turn to them, curse them out and move on, but I realize it would get me nowhere. It would only cause a commotion and maybe get the police involved.
Speaking of police, it seems like they had their hands full over the weekend. Our mayor forced over 1,000 of them to be on mask patrol all over the city. In the nice neighborhoods, where people were sunbathing outside (with no masks), the police were politely asking residents to break up their parties that seemed to not be adherent to the social distancing rules.
In other hoods, they were using different tactics.
Did you hear what he said at the end? He was being taken to jail because he wasn’t wearing a mask. Tsk, tsk. Did you notice how the officers’ masks were being worn?
In this calming video below, we can see how officers of the law treated others in another brown community. This was about social distancing, but notice the masks on the officers, or lack thereof?
In a statement, NYPD spokesperson Sergeant Mary Frances O’Donnell said "a group was observed" on the corner "in violation of social distancing orders." The statement said that when officers approached the group to order them to disperse, "they observed a bag of alleged marijuana in plain view." Another video shows security camera footage of the incident starting before police arrived.
There was immediate backlash.
The NYPD doesn’t like it either:
“ The city’s largest police union is demanding cops get “out of the social distancing enforcement business,” while slamming New York pols for “releasing criminals,” “discouraging proactive policing,” and leaving subways “in chaos.”
“This situation is untenable: the NYPD needs to get cops out of the social distancing enforcement business altogether,” a statement from Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said.
“The cowards who run this city have given us nothing but vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving the cops on the street corners to fend for ourselves,” Lynch said. “Nobody has a right to interfere with a police action. But now that the inevitable backlash has arrived, they are once again throwing us under the bus.”
The responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are causing more harm to the fabric of our country than almost anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. Either you are on the side of staying home forever or you are seen as a grandma killer. I may be completely wrong, but I tend to find those who want to stay at home indefinitely and wait for the perfect vaccine to come along, are the ones who have jobs, benefits and are generating an income. It also appears as if the people who have followed the “shelter in place” orders since mid-March obediently, but who are becoming increasingly fed up with the never-ending uncertainty, are seen as selfish and inconsiderate. It seems as if no one cares that these people may have no income, haven’t gotten a stimulus check from the feds or a payment the state unemployment office, can’t pay rent or any bills, can’t see a doctor, have no child care, live in a small apartment with several other people or have any number of issues that come along with poverty or insecurity.
The longer this goes on, the worse it will get. Especially for the kinds of people you see in the videos above.
This can’t end well and cannot continue much longer. Even Governor Cuomo says so.
“This is not a sustainable situation,” Mr. Cuomo said of the shutdown, now in its seventh week. “Close down everything, close down the economy, lock yourself in the home. You can do it for a short period of time, but you can’t do it forever.”
I’ve walked around enough of New York over the past few weeks and seen the eye rolls of mask wearers to those without them. I’ve read the nasty social media comments, read the angry, conformist op-Eds, read the tweets of those who disagree with the status quo. It’s an interesting time we’re living in.
Super Fun:
I have never seen this movie before for some strange reason. I watched this last night. Hilarious!
Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University’s School of Business and is a 25 year veteran of the fast paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in a number of hit broadway and off-broadway musicals including “Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical and Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar and Grill. In addition, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.