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)

People mourn next to the body of Muddasir Khan, who was wounded on Tuesday in a clash between people demonstrating for and against a new citizenship law, after he succumbed to his injuries, in a riot affected area in New Delhi, February 27, 2020. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A villager harvests water chestnuts in Feijiadai Village, Zhejiang Province, China on September 20, 2019. (Photo by Huang Zongzhi/Xinhua News Agency/Barcroft Media)

A girl plays in a waterlogged street following a heavy monsoon rainfall in Mumbai on June 9, 2021. (Photo by Sujit Jaiswal/AFP Photo)

Nail salon Maniqure owner Lim Pei Xin works on a Squid Game's manicure for a client at her shop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 14, 2021. (Photo by Lim Huey Teng/Reuters)

Nigerians take a photo in their traditional clothes during Eid al-Fitr prayers in Lagos, Nigeria on May 2, 2022. Muslims gather to perform Eid al-Fitr prayers held in Nigeria, the country with the largest Muslim population in Africa. (Photo by Adeyinka Yusuf/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A dancer performs a fire breathing act during a procession to mark the 669th anniversary of the birth of Hindu Guru Bawa Lal Dayal in Amritsar on February 9, 2024. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

The sun sets behind the Giant Swing, also known as Sao Chingcha, in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 6, 2025. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)