NYC NOW - July 26, 2023 : Evening Round Up

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

Some elected officials are describing conditions for migrants in certain New York City shelters as "inhumane" and "horrific." Plus, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani admits to making false statements while working as a lawyer for former President Trump. And, a man who claims to have witnessed the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X is speaking out. Also, WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with writer Houreidja Tall about her latest piece on hair braiders and the injuries they sustain. And finally, an ever–cooking pot of stew at a Brooklyn playground has gone viral online. WNYC’s Ramsey Khalifeh decided to find out what the slurp is all about.

Good evening and welcome to NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre for WNYC. We know what dignified conditions are and so like I just can't, like this is like the bare minimum. Advocates and some elected officials say conditions are deplorable for migrants in some New York City shelters. Like in Bushwick, a facility serving over 300 adult men went without working showers for weeks. And at one Upper West Side shelter, Councilmember Gail Brewer says migrant families went without baby formula and wipes until her staff intervened. You know, I just, I don't understand how if we heard about it, and we're not there every day,

how a staff member could not have also been aware. I just don't know. A city health spokesperson says the city is doing the best it can, but what's needed is a national response and more support to address this national issue. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani admits he made false statements working as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump. The New York Times reports the admission centers on his claims that two Georgia election workers had mishandled ballots

during the 2020 election. The mother and daughter sued Giuliani, and in court papers filed this week, Giuliani acknowledged that his statements were actionable and false. But Giuliani refuses to acknowledge they caused any damage and says his accusations were constitutionally protected under the First Amendment. A man who claims to have witnessed the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X,

is speaking out. He contends the assassin was an NYPD informant. WNYC's Arun Vanekapal has more. Mustafa Hassan was a member of the Organization of African American Unity, a group formed by Malcolm X, and was part of the security detail on the day of the fatal shooting. In an affidavit, he says he heard an NYPD officer ask another officer, is he one of us, in reference to the assailant? Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump says that strongly suggests the assailant was a police, informant and questioned why Hassan was never called a trial. Last year, the city agreed to a $36 million payout to two men who were wrongfully convicted in the murder. The family of Malcolm X is suing the NYPD and federal law enforcement agencies for allegedly concealing evidence related

to the assassination. Stick around. There's more after the break. Hair braiders spend hours weaving their fingers into intricate patterns every day. It's a great skill to have, but the work is hard and the hours are long. Installing a single style can take 10 to 12 hours. And for many of the West African immigrant women who make their living this way, this work can take a devastating toll. WNYC's Michael Hill talked with writer Horatia Tall

about her latest piece on workplace injuries that some of these hairbraiders sustain. So much of your story is about the persistent pain, many hair braiders, just like your mom, feel every day. Would you describe the physical discomfort people in this occupation? can live with and the working conditions that bring on this pain? So a lot of the pain is concentrated in parts of the body, like their hands, their fingers, because

they spend so much time braiding in their back because they're standing for so long, that sort of thing. And the conditions, they're just working for a really, really long time and, you know, operating customer after customer, day after day, you know, cumulatively, that that adds up to a lot of pain. And a lot of these women, you know, just can't take the time off to tend to that pain. And so they have to push through. And years and years of that can really take a toll on one's body. Horatius, so it's a situation where if your mom doesn't work, she doesn't get paid.

Exactly. There's no holiday pay. There's no overtime. It's just. Yeah, it depends on the rates that she and the customer agree on. The customer may give her a tip. The customer may not give her a tip, you know? So it really, it really depends. But she's not being paid if she doesn't work. She's not salaried. And it's not like they're just doing it four or five days a week. Sometimes it's more days than that, isn't it? Oh, for sure. Like my mom has gone weeks without a day off working seven days a week, week after week after week. because a lot of it depends on, you know, when you have a customer.

And so if you have a customer who is available on a certain day, you don't know necessarily when you're getting your next customer, so you don't necessarily have the luxury of turning down that customer. The vast majority of the women you spoke to were previously undocumented. How does their immigration status complicate their relationships with their jobs? I don't know that the vast majority of them are undocumented at this point, but I do know that when they first came to the states, they were undocumented at least. And then over time, they become documented.

But, you know, that can take maybe 10, 15 years. And at that point, they're in so deep with braiding that they don't necessarily know how to change careers. And New York requires hair braiders to have a license, but most of the women you spoke to for your story worked without formal certification. What did they tell you about their choice to forego a license? So a lot of the women I spoke to did want licenses, but they just don't know where to start. And it's also cost prohibitive for a lot of them, and they don't know who to approach about getting a license. And it's a skill a lot of them already possess. So a lot of them just don't know what a license would add to their lives.

Some groups such as natural hairstyle and braid coalition are working to help braiders get licensed. What are the arguments for getting licenses for more workers? So some of the arguments in favor of licensure are that it would bring formality to the profession. It would bring a sort of standardization because you have to go through X, Y, Z in order to get a license. And so if you see someone who has license, you know that they've done certain things in order to get it. What are the limits of licensure? So licensing from what I've heard in talking to braiders doesn't magically solve their issues. It doesn't immediately give them protections.

It doesn't make the braiding any less painful. A license is not going to alleviate the physical toll of braiding. That's writer Horatia Tall, talking with WNYC's Michael Hill. For more than a month, people have been meeting in a playground in Bushwick, Brooklyn. They're not there to bring their kids to play, but to contribute to and eat an ever-cooking pot of stew that's gone viral online. WNYC's Ramsey Caliphate decided to find out what the hype is all about. Crowds of people have been coming to Fermi playground to get a taste of a communal stew that's been cooking since early June. It's surprisingly tasty.

It was really good. Stupendous. On this night, as many as 200 people turned out. The person bringing them all together is Annie Raura. She says she thought it would be a fun idea to start a perpetual stew club. The sorts of people that decide to go out of their way and come contribute random vegetables to a pot of perpetual stew, a rather adventurous and interesting bunch. Hajin Yu is her friend and co-creator of the concept. She says the idea goes way back. Apparently, like in the medieval times, they would have a cauldron going full of like hot water and vegetables,

and you would just like keep adding ingredients. Some people say it would last decades. This pot has been brewing for more than 40 days. Rarada starts the stew at home in a crock pot. She carries it every few weeks to the meetups, never taking it off simmer. The pot stays plugged into a battery so it can keep cooking. People toss in all sorts of ingredients that make sense for a stew. Some shouting out what they brought.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the stew, but what struck me most was how much people were enjoying each other's company. Most people come alone to these events. and if your name is stew, you're recognized as the guest of honor. Tonight's special guest is... My first name is Stuart. Your last name is Rutherford. You meet a lot of people and they find out your name is stew, and then I'll be like, oh, do you eat a lot of stew?

How do you feel about the latest stew? And so to actually come full circle and attend an event that's all about stew, it just feels like this is what I've been building up to. Josefina Hernandez has been living in Bushwick for 30 years. She says the meetup is a unique and good thing for the neighborhood. This is not just a soup. This is people getting together, sharing whatever they have. This is what makes the community strong.

And while I enjoyed seeing the community come together, I couldn't leave without a taste of the stew. I'm not a big soup guy, but this is good. The stew is peppery, it's light, there's all these aromas, it's palatable for most audiences. It's delicious. It was an eventful night of perpetual stew, a stewapaloo-paloosa. And for however long it lasts, I'm happy to say I got to witness it for myself. That's WNYC's Ramsey Caliphate. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC.

Catch us every weekday, three times a day. We'll be back tomorrow.