Drastic inequality is by no means new in New York. Jacob A. Riis was called a muckraker after he chose to spotlight the city’s poverty at the turn of the 20th century by photographing it. Here: Sweatshop in Hester Street, 1889-1890. (Photo by Jacob A. Riis/Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roger William Riis)

Characters dressed as Elmo and Cookie Monster who pose for tips take a photo by request from a tourist (2nd R, black pants) in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. (Photo by Rickey Rogers/Reuters)

Store owner Sidney Graham removes storm damage debris at Living Loved Lash and Body Studio on West Walnut Avenue Sunday, May 26, 2024, in Rogers, Ark. Powerful storms left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. (Photo by Charlie Kaijo/The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP Photo)

A cat sits on the empty Great Wall on February 23, 2021 in Beijing, China. Affected by the new coronavirus (COVID-19), the number of visitors to Mutianyu Great Wall in 2020 dropped by about 60%. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A dump truck carrying cleaning workers drives on Havana's malecon as a wave crashes on the sea wall, in Cuba, Tuesday, January 24, 2017. Due to high winds and tides, the sea pushed over the sea wall, flooding low parts of the Vedado neighborhood of Havana. (Photo by Desmond Boylan/AP Photo)

A man dressed as a Santa Claus poses at the front of the Kollhoff Tower at Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin December 14, 2014. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A model attends a fashion show at the “German Fetish Ball” in Berlin, Germany on May 12, 2018. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A Chinese tourist visits the Mutianyu Great Wall covered in snow on February 23, 2021 in Beijing, China. Affected by the new coronavirus (COVID-19), the number of visitors to Mutianyu Great Wall in 2020 dropped by about 60%. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)