This Makes Me Uncomfortable To Write

CONSUME:
My apartment is around the corner from a hotel that has been converted into a shelter for migrant families. In NYC, the conversion of hotels to homeless shelters has been quite common for years (though the auditing of these large contracts suggests it may not be a long term fiscally viable solution, but I digress), I walk by it often: on my walk to drop my kid off at school, on my way to the subway and on my way to my favorite coffeeshop. To be honest, I only really register its existence when I see young mothers with strollers congregating outside, however beyond my neighborhood the impact of the fast growing migrant population appears to be putting pressure on everything in the city.

Babies are strapped to the backs of women who walk up and down the subway cars trying to sell candy bars, up until a few weeks ago the Brooklyn Bridge’s narrow pedestrian walkaway was further crowded by tables staffed by migrants selling various tchotchkes, the mayor (a whole other topic) has claimed the 3 year cost of the migrant influx will cost the city $12B (though as of 2 days ago it is now $10.6B) and in the NY Times we are presented with images of migrants sleeping under snow covered cardboard boxes on the sidewalk.

As I wrote that last paragraph, I felt uncomfortable with the word: migrant. It suddenly seems derogatory given what people have been saying in the comment sections of various articles. If you were to replace it with any other group of people it feels almost criminal because the context lately is always negative. It made me think of this week’s Plain English episode.

Another podcast I am truly obsessed with is Plain English, I believe Derek Thompson is one of the greatest intellectuals of our time - I can only aspire to be 5% as prolific as he is with his bold and informative takes on culture and society - whew! Big fan.

During today’s episode he speaks with Dara Lind about how the migrant crisis evolved so quickly and he ultimately poses one of the most interesting questions I have heard: “Say I am a progressive, living in NYC, Chicago, Denver and on the one hand I am pro-immigration in the abstract in my politics, I am pro-diversity, I am pro-the US continuing to grow and majorly increasing the amount of legal immigration to the US and at the same time, visually and aesthetically scandalized by seeing people in the streets, reading the NY Times that the homeless population of NYC is soaring, realizing that lots of people fleeing terrible situations in Central and South America are out in the cold and struggling to make it in NY and I’m trying to balance these two ideas: I’m pro-immigration, but I’m definitely not pro the status quo of whatever the hell is happening right now. What should I hope for for our immigration system? What are the principals that I should hope for our immigration system?”

Coincidentally I just finished sociologist Matthew Desmond’s phenomenal book: Poverty, By America - talk about a jaw dropper (I will definitely refer to it often going forward). His discussion of poverty in America is thought provoking because he calls us all out. We all ultimately benefit from the institutionalization of poverty: it gives us more affordable products and services, it keeps our property values high, it gives us moral superiority and many other weird and sad things. He really made me think about how poorly marketed the notion of government handouts are. When affluent Americans get a tax break or middle class Americans deduct their mortgage interest payments, we don’t think of how those are actually government handouts. We tend to only think about welfare and food stamps. Despite the increase of government transfer payments to the poor going from over $1K / person under Reagan to over $3K / person under Trump, poverty in America persists.

Throughout Poverty, we learn a lot about economic exploitation and the stigma of poverty. How, despite the fact we could probably spend the money to lift people out of the purely numerical status of poverty (a seemingly arbitrary dollar threshold), we still wouldn’t be addressing the core issues of poverty: the risk of bankruptcy for an untreated illness, the stressors of living in violent neighborhoods, the limited access to education, a lack of affordable housing and so on. Throughout my read all I could think of was the MLK Jr. quote: “It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps,” yet somehow in 2024 America we do that all the time. Oh just hustle more and get another job (as I discussed earlier) - even though that person may already be working 2 or 3 jobs paying minimum wage and barely sleeping, oh just move to a different neighborhood - even though that person’s section 8 vouchers are not accepted by landlords in that part of town (which is illegal), oh just go to the doctor - even though you’re already on a waiting list at a free clinic to see a specialist for that pain in your abdomen and are hoping the remedy is not anything beyond what you already have in your medicine cabinet. Poverty is so cruel, but quite American.

Now combining these two forms of media I consumed, I have spent all day wondering: how is America able to find the billions of dollars to cover the influx of migrants (for now at least) while we have struggled for years to fundamentally address our own nation’s poor? Are we so desensitized to the visuals and concept of poor citizens that we don’t want to take action? Are we all, as Desmond suggests, so hooked on the benefits that we each receive from the poor that we dare not rock the boat? What’s the long game here if the migrant situation persists, especially for cities like NYC?

It feels uncomfortable to write these things because it has become a weird flashpoint to even utter the word migrant. People seem to share quite openly that Democrats will lose the election in November if they don’t tackle the immigration issue - a very broad and complex issue mind you. I must say it feels uncomfortable really because in the back of my mind there is an inherent belief we are just supposed to figure out how to take care of everyone who needs help, but for too long we haven’t actively done that (for a whole host of reasons I hope to continue to go into) and while I’m comfortable in my little bubble I don’t want to imagine what a change in the status quo (that allows me to live the life I enjoy) could look like.

A big wish for the year is that Derek and Matthew have a podcast episode, it would probably absolutely blow my mind.

OUTPUT:
I spent the day on X (as an aside, it feels so weird to not say Twitter and I don’t think it ever won’t be - in fact if X is still around and relevant in 15 years, I will cherish the moment my kid storms off because I won’t stop calling X Twitter, just like I did when I was younger when my parents seemed so oddly stuck in their ways about dumb things), and “aggressively” followed, replied to and posted my own content.

I have no idea how marketing works in this day and age and it feels weird to put myself out there so much, but I am having fun exploring this new voice of mine and hope a few others do as well. I know that outside of having rich and wealthy connections, the key to success is repetition and consistency so my goal is to be a regular part of the Twittersphere (Xsphere just doesn’t hit in the same way…).

Some call it shit posting, I call it gaining traction.