PAGE A18 • TIMES OF SMITHTOWN • MARCH 11, 2021
Editorial
Lessons learned
Last week marked milestones that most Long Islanders would prefer to forget. It was March 5, 2020, when the first confirmed case of the coronavirus was reported on the Island in Nassau County, and then a few days after, there was one in Suffolk. A year later, while we can somewhat see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’re not quite there yet. Many people would say we lost a year of normalcy with a good majority of employees working from home, restaurants and other businesses operating at reduced capacity — some even shuttering their doors for good. The biggest loss to COVID-19 was more than 3,000 people in Suffolk County in the last year dying from the virus. This means 3,000 families have lost their loved ones. We’ve come a long way since the novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China. Scientists and researchers had to scramble to find ways to protect people from a virus that was unfamiliar to the human body, so much so that it not only could make them incredibly ill but also take their lives. There were shutdowns, social distancing guidelines, the requirement of facial coverings and frequent handwashing to keep us healthy, while pharmaceutical companies were on the fast track creating vaccines that would teach our bodies how to clobber the silent and invisible enemy. But was this year really lost to any extent? We have come out of adversity stronger and wiser. Those of us who are reasonably healthy have learned so much. More than ever, we know not to take our health and loved ones for granted. We have discovered just how resilient we can be, finding alternatives to celebrating special events, having meetings with coworkers, buying groceries and more. Many business owners have come up with innovative ideas so they can keep their doors open. We have also seen disparities during the pandemic, especially when it comes to public health, as Black and brown communities have had more cases than others. These disparities are unacceptable and remind us that we can and must do better by our neighbors. So many of us know someone who has been affected by the coronavirus, whether they had mild or severe symptoms, were hospitalized or died. And as we find ourselves at the one-year mark, even with the vaccines being rolled out, we still must curtail our activities, social distance, wear masks and frequently wash our hands. But as more and more people get vaccinated, the light at the end of the tunnel will continue to get brighter. Our residents will carry on — maybe with masks in hand and keeping their distance, but at the same time applying the lessons they have learned and honoring those who can no longer do so.
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Letters to the Editor
Black History Month is over, now what? This was a Black History Month like no other for Long Islanders. Interest was high, connection was easy and content was unmatched in quality, historic relevance and potential to bring lasting change. We learned a lot as our screens lit up with panel discussions, book talks and performances. We learned of enslavement at Sylvester Manor in Shelter Island and Lloyd Manor in Lloyd Harbor, both provisioning plantations for sugar plantations in Barbados. We learned about America’s first published Black poet, the Long Island enslaved man Jupiter Hammon. We learned that Blacks were essential to the Long Island whaling industry because nonblacks refused such treacherous work. We learned about John Shippen Jr., the Black Long Island teenager who became America’s first professional golfer. We saw new connections between past and present. The Black men and women who overcame the obstacles of their day often died poor, alone and unknown. Blacks were consistently denied opportunities to build generational
wealth through land ownership, access to capital, education and commercialization of talent. Hammon was not paid for his poetry; Shippen was buried in an unmarked grave. The effects of this history live with us today, in the form of housing and school segregation, wealth disparities and environmental racism. It also lives in the massive wealth created by enslaved people, whalers, indentured servants and low wage workers — wealth that built much of Long Island. History illuminates these connections and, if acted upon, lights the path for remediation. Now that Black History Month is over, we must ask: What are we going to do with the information laid at our feet? These events are not merely for our edification — they are a call to action. It’s a call to rethink education. How can we call ourselves a “well educated” community with so much history still untold? The historians have been hard at work — it is now up to us to tell the stories, update our curriculum, invite speakers to classrooms and bring
students to places like Sylvester Manor and Lloyd Manor. It’s a call to redefine community. What does real representation look like? Who is missing from the table? Are we supporting Black institutions in our towns? Long Island cemeteries for enslaved people are in need of restoration and repair. Historic buildings are being sold because the upkeep is too expensive. We need to rally around these historic lands and the communities who live on them or were forced to flee them. Most importantly, it’s a call to use our privilege — in whatever form — to empower communities bearing the heaviest burden from this shared history. Whether it be hiring, spending, educating or representing, we can all do our part to remediate the injustices of opportunities denied. Black History Month is not just for Black Americans. In many ways, nonBlacks need it even more. We need to be reminded of the work still left to do. Then, we need to act. Allison Singh East Setauket
‘The People’s Plan’ for police reform I am writing in response to Suffolk County Presiding Officer Rob Calarco’s [D-Patchogue] March 5 press release regarding the county Legislature’s public hearings on police reform. I appreciate that the Legislature has provided three opportunities for public hearings on this matter [March 11, 16, 18], and I urge everyone who watched in horror the alleged murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis last May to attend and make their voices heard. Calarco mentioned that only two plans will be considered, those from the county Police Department and the Sheriff’s Office. I urge the Legislature to consider a far superior alternative: “The People’s Plan.” It is a comprehensive document written by those directly impacted by police misconduct: a collective of retired law enforcement, civil rights attorneys, advocates and activists.
These are the stakeholders that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s [D] Executive Order outlines as who needs to be at the table. The plan is comprehensive and covers transparency in its creation of a civilian complaint review board. It addresses the bias in traffic stops that is well documented in Suffolk County data. It calls for an end to the schoolto-prison pipeline, and an investment in community resources and education. The plan seeks an end to police responses to mental health crises, so deaths like Daniel Prude’s in Rochester do not happen here. “The People’s Plan” demands full accountability for police brutality. This is more important than ever, given the county police’s alleged attacks on Christopher Cruz in Mount Sinai Feb. 24. If not for a supervisor who had happened to review body camera footage, this police brutality would have never been reported on. According to the footage,
there were a dozen officers present, yet none interfered in the beating, kicking, punching and racial slurs their colleagues engaged in. None of these officers reported the incident. It is clear that the “blue wall of silence” prevailed, and it is why we must adopt “The People’s Plan” over the plans of the county Police Department, which clearly has a ways to go in policing their own. To read “The People’s Plan,” please visit: liafpa.org/the-peoples-plan. This is the police reform this county needs, and I urge the Legislature to listen to the dozens of people who collaborated to create a plan that achieves long overdue justice and accountability. Shoshana Hershkowitz South Setauket Editor’s note: The writer is a member of the Long Island Advocates for Police Accountability. The organization is one of three organizations that wrote “The People’s Plan.”
The opinions of columnists and letter writers are their own. They do not speak for the newspaper.