The New Yorker Radio Hour — "Amid a Pandemic, Catharsis at Seven O’Clock"

April 10, 2020 | Hosted by David Remnick

Episode Overview

This episode captures New York City's emotional and social response to the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the ritual of communal cheering at 7 p.m. as a cathartic gesture. It also delves into the ways the pandemic has laid bare systemic racial and economic inequalities in health care outcomes, featuring an in-depth conversation with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a writer and Princeton professor, about how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting African American communities.

Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. The Desolate City and the Seven O’Clock Ritual

• David Remnick opens with poetic reflections on the emptiness pervading New York as the city retreated indoors to slow the pandemic.
• He observes the profound social adjustment:

  "We’ve absented ourselves from the schools and the playgrounds, the ballparks and the bars, the places where we work, because life now depends on our withdrawal from life." (00:51)

• Remnick describes the 7 p.m. citywide cheering as both "joy" and "sheer catharsis," likening it to a celebration after a Yankees World Series win:

  "Cheering breaks out as though the Yankees had clinched the World Series...the clapping, the whooping, the tambourines and the wind chimes, the vuvuzelas..." (03:22)

• This daily ritual serves as collective applause for frontline workers—healthcare professionals, essential workers, scientists, and artists who sustain and inspire the city.

Notable Quote:

"We cheer those who provide straight information and look out for the most vulnerable among us, the poor, the aged, the incarcerated. And we cheer the artists who have lost their gigs but are posting paintings on Instagram, FaceTiming their soliloquies, singing into iPhones." —David Remnick (04:19)

• Remnick acknowledges the emotional complexity, recognizing both hope and helplessness embedded in the ritual.

Memorable Moment:

• Concludes the segment with the symbolic phrase—

  "And we’ll remember the sound of seven o’..." (06:19)
  "Clock." —Voice of a child or family member, breaking the somber mood with quiet affirmation. (06:21)

2. Interview: The Pandemic’s Unequal Toll with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Segment Begins: [06:38]

A. Stark Disparities in COVID-19 Outcomes

• Remnick introduces grim data:

  "In Louisiana, African Americans are 33% of the population, but account for 70% of the deaths from coronavirus." (07:44)

• Taylor identifies several intersecting factors:
  • Higher prevalence of chronic "diseases of disinvestment" like hypertension and asthma.
  • Greater likelihood of employment in essential, low-wage jobs without remote work possibilities.
  • Structural barriers to effectively practicing social distancing.

  "Only 19% of black people have the ability to work at home because of the types of jobs that they are employed in...which now, ironically, are seen as essential work like magnets to pull people away from the safety of social distancing." —Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (09:42)

B. Institutional Racism in Healthcare

• Taylor notes a troubling legacy of discrimination in medicine:

  "There is a legacy within healthcare practice of not believing black patients when they talk about pain, not really taking seriously the complaints from black patients." (11:07)

• She provides an example: black women, even insured, being turned away despite COVID-19 symptoms until it's too late.

C. Access to Testing

• Equity in COVID testing is an issue exacerbated by income and transportation:

  "Testing was six times higher in zip codes with higher incomes than in zip codes with lower incomes and lower rates of insurance. There are these drive-up testing facilities...but it assumes that you have a car." —Taylor (12:08)

D. The Legacy of Housing Discrimination

• Remnick asks about housing segregation's role in vulnerability:
• Taylor connects redlining to inadequate infrastructure:

  "Somewhere like Philadelphia...there are literally thousands of apartments...legally designated unfit for human habitation...they don't have proper plumbing, they don’t have proper access to water. That is of even more critical importance right now." (13:39)

• She points to the "catastrophic" intersection of old systems of segregation, poverty, and immediate public health guidance (e.g., hand-washing becomes a challenge when water is inaccessible).

E. Hope and the Prospect of Change

• Remnick asks if there’s hope that the pandemic’s exposure of inequality might spur progress.
• Taylor offers a cautious optimism grounded in history:

  "Just knowing about it is not enough. And I think social crises almost always provoke a social response...for me, I do have hope...hope that is rooted in an understanding of history and the history of ordinary people really leading the way to find solutions to the social dilemmas..." (16:09)

• She celebrates visible acts of solidarity—healthcare workers’ selflessness, grassroots aid to the elderly—as evidence of "the basic decency of regular people in this society." (16:44)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• David Remnick:

  "The vacancy of our public spaces is antithetical to the very purpose of the city, which is defined by its encounters, their constancy and their poetry. But the vacancy of the city is what's needed to preserve it." (01:02)

• On 7 o’clock cheering:

  "There's a feeling of helplessness reflected in it, too. But it’s what we have." (05:21)

• Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor:

  "Preexisting conditions necessarily make people more vulnerable to the virus. But...you have to have a certain kind of income and class position really to be able to fully engage that [social distancing] practice." (09:35)
  "I have hope not based in some kind of cheap religiosity, but hope that is rooted in an understanding of history and… ordinary people really leading the way to find solutions to the social dilemmas..." (16:19)

Segment Timestamps

• [00:10] - Introduction & Opening Reflections (Remnick)
• [03:22] - The 7 p.m. Cheering Ritual
• [06:19] - Closing Poetic Meditation
• [06:38] - Interview: Racial Disparities with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• [07:44] - Discussion of Death Rate Disparities
• [09:25] - Employment and Essential Work
• [11:07] - Healthcare Racism and Testing Access
• [13:05] - Housing Segregation and Infrastructure
• [15:17] - On Hope and Prospects for Change

Conclusion

The episode intertwines the emotional lived experience of New Yorkers navigating an eerie, absent city with sharp social commentary on long-standing inequities exposed by COVID-19. Through evocative storytelling and a rigorous interview, the program honors collective resilience while calling attention to the urgent need for systemic change—a sound as persistent as the applause at seven o’clock.