GateHouse Media
April 24, 2020
Every day Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York, is a
fixture on cable television providing detailed updates on the impact of
COVID-19 on his state and more particularly New York City. His updates are
chock-full of scientific data, insightful opinions and personal reflections.
The pandemic he talks about every day has had an
enormous impact on every man, woman and child in this country and around the
world. The pain and sorrow for those personally touched by the virus is beyond
comprehension.
Americans are agonizingly coming to terms with the
breadth of the destruction caused by this health emergency. The impact on
workers and businesses is dire. As social distancing regulations have
tightened, people are being forced to choose between the risk of bringing the
virus into their homes or going without food, medication or other basic
necessities.
The virus has revealed a stark divide in this country.
Sure, we know about the ideological divide - “Keep America Great” versus “Never
Trump;” right versus left; conservative versus progressive - but the split is
even more profound.
There is a class divide in the country - the have and
have nots. The divide is not new, but the pandemic has brought it into clear
focus. More than 35 years ago another New York Governor named Cuomo gave a
speech at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Governor Mario
Cuomo said, in reference to President Ronald Reagan’s remark that the United
States is a “Shining City on a Hill,” - “Mr. President you ought to know that
this nation is more about a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ that it is just a ‘Shining
City on a Hill.’”
People wait for hours at food banks across the country
to get food for their families. Men and women living from paycheck to paycheck
had jobs only weeks ago and when the money stopped, so did the food. A woman
wearing a protective mask holding her children’s hands told a reporter on the
nightly news, “I’m a waitress, I don’t have food for my kids.”
Many parents who lost their jobs as a result of the
pandemic have, in turn, lost their medical insurance. So now the medicine they,
or their children, need is unaffordable.
Schools are closed to protect our children, but many
of those parents who must work are forced to leave their children without
supervision. They can’t afford childcare, even if they could find it. They
can’t ask for help from elderly or infirm friends or relatives because of their
increased vulnerability to the virus.
Today, poverty puts people at a higher risk of
exposure to COVID 19 - whether it’s working in a service industry with
inadequate protection; ongoing health problems because of a lifetime without
adequate medical care; a lack of medical insurance; or being in jail - poverty
is a factor.
Imagine being accused of a crime during a pandemic.
One month ago, I wrote, “There are 3,163 local jails across the country.
According to the Prison Policy Institute, within those walls are 612,000
inmates, of which 462,000 have not been convicted of a crime.”
If a defendant has money for bail, no matter the
underlying charges or the level of risk, he or she is free while awaiting
trial. If a person accused of a crime is without money he or she sits in jail
until trial. But for poverty one person is locked up and the other is free.
The Marion Correctional Institution is the site of the
largest coronavirus outbreak in Ohio. According to the Marion Star, at least
78%, or 1,950, inmates at Marion have tested positive for COVID-19. A total of
154 staff members have been infected, and a guard and inmate have died.
When it comes to the have and have nots, I’m reminded
of something else Gov. Mario Cuomo said on that summer evening in San
Francisco, “It’s the same shining city for those relative few who are lucky
enough to live in its good neighborhoods. But for the people who are excluded -
but for the people who are locked out - all they can do is stare from a
distance at that city’s glimmering towers.”
When Gov. Cuomo delivered his keynote address, 36
years ago, he wasn’t thinking about America in the midst of a pandemic, but his
words are befitting these troubling and frightening times.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg,
Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book “The Executioner’s Toll, 2010” was
released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him
on Twitter at @MatthewTMangino.
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