I hate threads, but this feels important:

I want to tell you about how structural racism and segregation are being perpetuated in real time on the Upper West Side, one of the most liberal neighborhoods in the country.

For context, here's how the UWS voted in 2016:

(Blue, obviously, means Democratic.)

Let me start with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote—one you're not likely to see in press releases on MLK Day every January:

Background: If you haven't heard, we are facing a brutal recession, which means homelessness is on the rise across the country, including in New York.

Hotels, meanwhile, are empty, since travel isn't a thing.

So, one logical solution has been: Make hotels homeless shelters.

One place where these shelters have been placed is the Upper West Side—a neighborhood that has been emptied out since the start of the pandemic, because so many residents have second homes.

See the burgundy blocks left of Central Park? Those are the UWS.

Naturally, the usual suspects, like Sean Hannity, have been up in arms. They are livid the UWS would welcome people experiencing homelessness.

But I don't care about Sean Hannity. He's hopeless.

https://www.westsiderag.com/2020/07/30/sean-hannity-says-upper-west-sides-homeless-hotels-are-part-of-a-new-york-city-nightmare

What I do care about is the Upper West Siders, who voted for Hillary and were up in arms about Amy Cooper, but are now leading the charge against providing housing for those who need it most—during an unprecedented global pandemic.

https://www.westsiderag.com/2020/07/27/locals-express-frustration-and-confront-councilmember-as-hotel-becomes-homeless-shelter

There's even a petition, which thousands of Upper West Siders have signed, full of thinly veiled racist rhetoric.

One commenter went as far as to threaten a flight to suburbia!

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/fight-for-safety-and-clean-streets-on-the-upper?fbclid=IwAR3QrtXaJ6AMWlg6QlNSNjomHXr9ZuEW5nbcOB1pHy_jWkVbm16BicXb4s0

In a text sent to my parents, a fellow UWS resident warned:

"If you are concerned about our neighborhood, please consider signing. It’s starting to feel like the 1970s all over again."

*Concerned about our neighborhood.*

That's what they said during integration, too.

Why is this news?

Well, it isn't. This kind of classism—and racism—is as old as our country.

But in neighborhoods like the UWS, there's at tendency to blame the racism in our country on people who vote for Trump.

To be clear: They deserve a lot of blame, too!

But it's also true that, even in one of the neighborhoods in the country with the most MSNBC viewers, there are thousands of residents willing to sign a petition kicking people experiencing homelessness out of shelters during one of the most severe economic downturns in history.

This is why it's not enough to read White Fragility, go to implicit bias training, and donate to bail funds in far-off states.

If you want to end segregation, if you want to end white supremacy, if you want to bring about justice, you have to live your values in your backyard.

I love the Upper West Side. It's where I was raised. It's where I learned how to shoot a jump shot—and what to order at Barney Greengrass.

So it's with love for my neighborhood that I say to my fellow Upper West Siders: It's time to prove we're better than this.