Monks dressed as Tibetan Buddhism characters attend a religious ceremony, known as “Da Gui” or beating ghost, to celebrate the upcoming Tibetan New Year which starts on March 1 at Yonghegong Lama Temple, in Beijing February 28, 2014. This Tibetan ceremony is held annually at the end of the first lunar month with mask dancing to expel ghosts, according to a press release. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

A couple wears face masks as they share a moment during sunset on January 31, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. With over 9800 confirmed cases of Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) around the world, the virus has so far claimed over 200 lives. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Deputies of the opposition fight with deputies of the majority for a second time in two days, during the second session of the newly elected Ukrainian parliament in Kiev on December 13, 2012. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

“Teenager Teenager”, an installation by the collaborative Chinese artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, at the exhibition “Crazy. Madness in contemporary art” in Rome on February 18, 2022. (Photo by Gloria Imbrogno/LiveMedia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A girl eats a watermelon slice while at a school building where Syrians – displaced from the area of Ras al-Ain by the Turkish offensive on the northeast – are staying in the city of Hasakah, on June 30, 2020. (Photo by Delil Souleiman/AFP Photo)

Highland dancers perform on Thursday, August 4, 2022 on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle at this year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. After a two-year hiatus the Tattoo returns with the 2022 show titled “Voices” with over 800 performers and includes international performances from Mexico, The United States, Switzerland and New Zealand. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

Members of the Funky Uptown Krewe parade as Twelfth Night kicks off Carnival season, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. January 6, 2025. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

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)