Syracuse Speaks

As Black History Month comes to a close, Syracuse Speaks is sharing some parts of Central New York’s Black History. Looking at influence on music, activism, and community, African-Americans have a rich and often under-told legacy in the area.

Syracuse has a lot on its to-do list in the new year. Primarily, the city is trying to find ways to fiscally and physically recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. But they’re also working on police reform, long-standing economic development initiatives, and anticipating progress on the I-81 project.

WAER’s staff of reporters has been covering the election through the COVID-19 pandemic, the fight for racial justice, and the fiscal challenges on local and national levels--for months. We talk to our reporters on what they've heard throughout the election cycle and what they heard at the polls on Election Day.

The covid-19 pandemic has upended many aspects of our community, and childcare schedules and norms are one of them. Providers are struggling to stay afloat while parents are trying to figure out when and what kind of childcare is the safest, best option.

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused health and fiscal strain across the community, and it continues to even as parts of the economy reopen. But organizations who help those struggling say the problems aren’t new. They’re existing problems that have been made worse by the effects of COVID-19.

Central New York has progressed through the four phases designed by the state to restart the economy. But where do we go from here?

  The 2020 Primary in New York this year fell in the midst of a global pandemic and a reckoning on police brutality in America. Voting by mail occurred in record numbers due to the threat of COVID-19 and youth in Syracuse led rallies for the current racial justice movement.

Syracuse like many other communities across the U.S. has been a scene for large, emotional and diverse protests over police treatment of people of color. On this special edition of Syracuse Speaks, WAER News Director Chris Bolt is joined by Yusuf Abdul-Qadir, Director of the Central New York Chapter of the NYCLU, Pastor Erik Eure from The Promise Land Church, and Sam Rowser, Executive Director of On Point for College.

Many parts of society have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and education has not been spared. Schools faced closures, then ascrambled to find ways to teach remotely. This followed by uncertainty about letting students back into classrooms.

Life for Central New Yorkers in the age of COVID-19 has forced many members of the community, local businesses and nonprofits to readjust their priorities and lifestyles.