Wednesday, June 30, 2021

June 30, 2021

By David Leonhardt

Good morning. The armed robber was slim and wearing a pullover hoodie. Yutico Briley was neither.

Yutico Briley.Ruddy Roye for The New York Times

'Crushingly ordinary'

After Benjamin Joseph was robbed at gunpoint outside his New Orleans home one night almost nine years ago, he described his attacker to the police: a Black man with a slim build who was wearing a pullover hoodie, Joseph said.

Eighteen hours later, the police made a curious decision. They arrested a teenager named Yutico Briley — even though he was heavyset and wearing a zip-up hoodie — while he was walking in Joseph's neighborhood. Briley was Black and carrying a gun, which was evidently enough for officers to consider him a suspect.

From there, the case followed a course that's more common than it should be. The police and prosecutors moved aggressively, seeming to care more about securing a conviction than making sure they were convicting the right person.

Instead of putting together a lineup that included Briley and several other men, the police brought him — and him alone — to Joseph and asked if Briley was the robber. "It seemed really unprofessional," Joseph would say later. It is also a common way to produce false identification, research has found. Sure enough, Joseph identified Briley as the robber.

Later, investigators failed to collect evidence that could have cleared Briley, like security-camera footage and cellphone records that would have confirmed where he was when the robbery occurred. His original lawyers failed to do so, too. By the time other lawyers tried to do it, the records had been erased.

Ultimately, a jury convicted Briley based largely on Joseph's identification, and a judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison without the possibility of parole. He had no prior violent convictions on his record. It was a virtual life sentence for a 19-year-old convicted of a single crime on extremely thin evidence.

'So many other Yuticos'

There are almost certainly tens of thousands of Americans who are now imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. (Several studies have suggested a nationwide wrongful conviction rate of at least 3 percent.) A disproportionate share of the wrongly convicted are Black men.

By now, you've probably read at least a few stories about these injustices. They can be both depressing and enraging. But I encourage you to make some time today or this week to read the story of Yutico Briley. It appears in The Times Magazine, written by my colleague Emily Bazelon. It is in many ways "crushingly ordinary," as Emily says. But it is also different.

Briley hugging his mother just after being released from prison.Ruddy Roye for The New York Times

It's an unusually personal story for Emily, about what happened after Briley contacted her from prison and she then decided to research his case. It is also a story of what can happen when prosecutors and judges are willing to revisit old cases with open minds.

"There are so many other Yuticos sitting in jail," Jason Williams, the New Orleans district attorney, who took office this year, told Emily.

I want to thank you for spending time with The Morning today. Subscribers to The New York Times make this newsletter possible, and I hope you'll consider becoming one of them. You can do so here.

THE LATEST NEWS

Politics

In Wisconsin, President Biden appealed to both Republicans and Democrats to get behind the bipartisan infrastructure plan. "This is a generational investment," he said.
The Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could give private companies the power to take land from states, clearing the way for a natural gas pipeline in New Jersey.
The House voted to remove statues of Confederate leaders from the Capitol.

New York Mayor's Race

Eric Adams is a former police captain and a relative moderate on several key issues.James Estrin/The New York Times

Confusion in the New York mayor's race: The Board of Elections mistakenly counted 135,000 test ballots in the ranked-choice tally.
Initial results showed a narrowing lead for Eric Adams. But hours after releasing those, the board tweeted that there had been a "discrepancy" and took down the tabulations.
Dysfunction and nepotism have long plagued the Board of Elections, The Times reported last year.

The Virus

Sydney and other Australian cities have enacted strict lockdowns in response to outbreaks tied to the Delta variant.
Los Angeles County has urged vaccinated people to wear masks indoors. The C.D.C. says the vaccinated are protected from serious illness and don't need masks in most situations.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 vote, kept a federal moratorium on evictions in place.
The U.S.-Canada border is still closed. Here's why.
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, said the country's virus response created a "great crisis," according to state media. It's unclear if he was talking about an outbreak.

ARTS AND IDEAS

In "The Greatest Showman," a historically preserved mansion became an overgrown mess.20th Century Fox

It's not easy being greenspeople

Though you may have never heard of the term "greenspeople," you've probably seen their work. In TV shows and movies, a greensperson is responsible for the foliage you see onscreen. They can create a tropical Vietnamese jungle in the middle of a Midwestern suburb, or a wheat field out of bundles of grass. They can make a production that's shooting in the dead of winter look like it's during spring — and vice versa.

Spot any faux forests, fanciful estates or lush gardens in your favorite film? That's possible thanks to greenspeople.

"It's one of those jobs where people go, 'Ohhh, I didn't even know that that exists,'" Ginny Walsh, a greensperson, said. When a movie she worked on, "Meet the Parents," wanted to shoot a fall scene in the winter, she and her crew attached fake autumn leaves, one by one, onto naked trees.

In The Times, Robert Ito went behind the scenes of sets Walsh and others have created for "The Stepford Wives," "The Greatest Showman" and more. Check them out. — Sanam Yar, a Morning writer

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Gazpacho is perfect when it is too hot to eat but you need cold, salt and lunch at the same time.

What to Watch

There have been many stories about young people starting bands. The British comedy "We Are Lady Parts," streaming on Peacock, makes the format feel giddily new.

What to Read

Mia Bloom and Sophie Moskalenko's "Pastels and Pedophiles" looks at how the QAnon conspiracy theory morphed into a political movement.

The Creator Economy

"If you took the frats depicted in '80s and '90s college movies and gave them the technology of 2021 America, that's basically what Nelk is." Known for their pranks and parties, these YouTubers made backlash part of their brand.

Now Time to Play

The pangrams from yesterday's Spelling Bee were ineptly and penitently. Here is today's puzzle — or you can play online.

Here's today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Sarcastic criticism (five letters).

If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here.

MORNING READS

Gwen Goldman, an honorary bat girl.Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Bat woman: At 10, the Yankees said she couldn't be a bat boy. At 70, she lived her dream.

Seafood science: "Who wants to buy a Subway tuna sandwich and send it to a lab?"

Beat the heat: Douse yourself with a bucket of cold water.

Criticism: New scrutiny on a longtime late-night food bit.

No shortcuts: A (mandatory) 40-mile rite of passage for high school freshmen is back.

Lives Lived: Elizabeth Martínez helped organize the Chicana movement, which sought to empower people, like her, who were of Mexican descent and born in the United States. She died at 95.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

P.S. A century ago today, the Senate confirmed William Howard Taft, the ex-president, as chief justice. He remains the only person to hold both offices.

Here's today's print front page.

Today's episode of "The Daily" is about the U.F.O. report. The "Ezra Klein Show" discusses why we work so much.

Claire Moses, Tom Wright-Piersanti and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.

Continue reading the main story

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

The Morning Briefing newsletter is now The Morning newsletter. You received this email because you signed up for the newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account.

To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.

Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app

Connect with us on:

Change Your Email Privacy Policy Contact Us California Notices

The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

The Morning: New York’s lesson for Democrats

View in browser|nytimes.com

June 29, 2021

By David Leonhardt

Good morning. The New York mayor's race offers national lessons for Democrats. Are they willing to listen?

Eric Adams campaigning in the Bronx before the primary.Desiree Rios for The New York Times

'Devout and diverse'

The Pew Research Center, which does some of the country's best polls, classifies all Americans as being in one of nine different political groups. The categories range from "core conservatives" on the right to "solid liberals" on the left, with a mix of more complicated groups in the middle.

I have been thinking about Pew's classifications recently, because they shed light on one of the Democratic Party's biggest challenges. They also help explain the mayoral results in New York City.

Among Pew's nine groups, the group that's furthest to the left — solid liberals — made up 19 percent of registered voters in 2017 (when Pew last did a full update of its categories). These voters have the views you would expect: strongly in favor of abortion access, affirmative action, immigration, business regulation, a generous social safety net and higher taxes on the rich.

And who are these solid liberals? They are disproportionately college graduates with above-average incomes. They are also heavily white.

By The New York Times | Source: Pew Research Center

Solid liberals are not as white as most Republican-leaning groups in Pew's classification system, but they are less racially diverse than the more moderate Democratic-leaning groups. Solid liberals are also the most educated of the nine groups, and they are essentially tied with core conservatives as the highest-income group.

The Squad's image

Much of the recent political energy in the Democratic Party has come from solid liberals. They are active on social media and in protest movements like the anti-Trump resistance. They played major roles in the presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as the rise of "The Squad," the six proudly progressive House members who include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

All six of those House members, notably, are people of color, as are many prominent progressive activists. That has fed a perception among some Democrats that the party's left flank is disproportionately Black, Hispanic and Asian American.

But the opposite is true, as the Pew data makes clear.

Black, Hispanic and Asian American voters are to the right of white Democrats on many issues. Many voters of color are skeptical of immigration and free trade. They favor border security, as well as some abortion restrictions. They are worried about crime and oppose cuts to police funding. They are religious.

By The New York Times | Source: Pew Research Center

Just consider the name that Pew chose for the most conservative of the nine classifications that still leans Democratic: Devout and Diverse.

The outer-borough candidate

One way to make sense of these patterns is to focus on social class. Many professionals, with college degrees and above-average incomes, have political views that skew either strongly right or strongly left, largely lining up with one of the two parties' agendas. Many working-class voters have mixed views.

In recent years, working-class voters — across races — have grown uncomfortable with some of the progressivism of the Democratic Party. The white working class's move away from the party is a familiar story by now, and it's one that certainly involves racism, as Donald Trump's appeals to white identity made obvious. Yet the shift is not only about racism.

If there were any doubt about that, the 2020 election — when voters of color shifted right — should have cleared it up. And last week's New York mayoral election has become the latest piece of evidence, as my colleague Katie Glueck has explained.

Eric Adams ran a campaign with decidedly conservative themes. He ran as both a Black man who had endured racism and a former police officer who would protect the city. "How dare those with their philosophical and intellectual theorizing and their classroom mind-set talking about the 'theory of policing'?" he said in his election night speech. "You don't know this. I know this. I'm going to keep my city safe."

The more progressive candidates, like Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley, have done well in upscale Manhattan neighborhoods. Adams leads in all four other boroughs.

"The median Black voter is not A.O.C. and is actually closer to Eric Adams," Hakeem Jefferson, a Stanford University political scientist, told my colleague Lisa Lerer. "What makes more sense for people who are often distrustful of broad political claims is something that's more in the middle."

The bottom line

To win elections and hold national power, the Democratic Party does not merely need to win a majority of the vote. Because of gerrymandering, the Electoral College and the structure of the Senate, Democrats have to win a few points more than 50 percent. That's not easy. And it requires appealing to working-class voters across racial groups.

The good news for the party is that public-opinion data shows a clear majority of Americans lean left on economic issues and are much more moderate on social issues than many Republicans.

The bad news for the Democratic Party is that this national majority is not as liberal as many high-profile Democratic activists and politicians. It isn't clear whether those activists and politicians are willing to moderate their positions to win more elections.

For more: New York election officials are releasing ranked-choice results today from the mayor's race, probably showing whether Adams, Wiley or Garcia won.