“Maybe it’s because of the war that’s been going on, but [my neighborhood] is a community that like, people just know each other. You don’t even [know if they’re] Russian. Grandma standing on the corner is selling pierogis or stuff like that, like food. And just, you know, it’s not hard to come by and talk to somebody, even if you don’t know them, or even like store employees being nice to you. It’s just something that kind of is an unspoken, almost like, connection that you have with the people there.”
“I was dealing with anxiety in the beginning of quarantine because, you know, death was just all around us. So it’s kind of tough and hearing about death a lot I feel like isn’t good for a person, mentally, if you’re not prepared for that. But I’ve been doing a lot of praying, meditating, and just shutting off the news because it can stress you out, and not even just with Covid, but you know, the racial tensions rising around us, it was kind of hard to cope with, and even with the verdict of Brianna Taylor, I didn’t speak that whole day, it was just hard to cope. ”
Issues related to current events
Between 2019 and 2024, current events from the Covid pandemic to protests over Gaza shaped many of the conversations taking place in focus groups
Current events intersected with the demographics of focus group participants, especially given structural inequalities that exacerbated the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic
In Fall 2020 especially, the convergence of the pandemic, the election, and the Black Lives Matter movement resulted in a lot of conversation about current events, including the way current events were shaping people’s daily lives
Events happening globally and NYC changed how people lived and interacted with their communities
Significance & Analysis
Human rights: structural injustices result in foreseeable violations of people’s rights, as can be seen in the disparate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on communities of color in New York.
Social networks and community relationships shape how people experience and engage with political, economic, and environmental developments
Selected quotes
“I know that the poverty in my neighborhood is directly linked to the crime in my neighborhood because a lot of people, especially with the pandemic, a lot of people have lost their jobs and stuff and don’t have much income coming in, so they feel the need to like, steal, and... it’s been a lot of like- I want to say like killings and stuff, so I think it’s directly linked... and then like there’s a mental health crisis behind Covid, too.”
“So like, before the migrant facility, kids usually used to go to the park all the time, right? But now, you know, most of the men can’t really work, so they’re usually just chilling in the park. So like, now, cause of that, most kids don’t really go out into the park anymore. Because now you just have like bunches of men chilling in a park.”
“We’ve learned that laws don’t always apply equally to everyone, and just like laws don’t apply equally to everyone, wars don’t apply equally to everyone… there should be some compassion towards the people that are being affected [on] more than one side.”
“I realize that within the black and brown community, a lot of people are like well, we live below poverty lines, COVID is ravaging the community, we see insurance increasing... So, it’s really difficult right now, but I think politics, in this moment, incorporates so much within society today.”