People of Red Hook. by Lisa Gitlin

I walked all over Red Hook on a warm, windy day, and asked:
What pisses you off?

Amy Dench:

Inequality. Anything from racial to economic inequality makes me angry. There’s so much downward pressure on people who don’t have as much as others. There’s a lot of discrimination (concerning) issues that really affect their lives on a day-to-day basis. And it seems like the people who are on the higher up in the socioeconomic stratosphere don’t really care, you know? About how their policies and the things that they do affect those who aren’t in the same position.

So what makes you angry is the indifference of people in higher socioeconomic groups…
Yes, the indifference of people who have an ability to make change. Look what happened with Red Hook Houses and Hurricane Sandy. They didn’t start the repairs until 2020. Right at the beginning of Covid. They had trailers providing heat and hot water. And they are still doing the repairs now. They tore out hundreds of trees. There was a real lack of empathy and care about the lives of the people in public housing. But the areas in New York that were much wealthier were repaired immediately.

And Red Hook Houses sat festering and decaying until 2020. And here it is, 2025, and they’re still working on them. When I tell people it was eight years before they even started the repairs…Eight years!

Kyle Lewis:

(Lounging in Coffey Park with his girlfriend, Sarah, and their dog, Dansby).

I’m a pretty low-key person. But I get angry when somebody does something intentionally to hurt me or someone I care about.

Can you elaborate a little bit?
Like being cut off in traffic. I’ve been in New York eight years now, and I try to stay on an even keel. But some days are harder than others.
Sarah: I would say he usually is low-key, he doesn’t get mad much, but traffic stuff does make him mad. On the road people in this city can be obnoxious. Have you noticed, like, only in New York, as soon as the light turns green, they honk!

That doesn’t bother me. But I don’t like dangerous driving. Putting people at risk. Like someone going fifteen over what everybody else is going and they cut everybody off, and make three lane changes…

They’re having fun. And then you see on the news that something happened…
Yeah. If you want to drive in New York you have to drive aggressively, but that’s different from putting everyone in danger.

And since Covid, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but it’s gotten worse.

Oh yeah. I mean I don’t want to get into the politics of Defund the Police and all that, but they’ve definitely pulled back…

Juanita Rosa:

My man passed away two weeks ago. Twenty years I was with him.

I made a collage, outside the building, in his memory. And three days after he died the housing guy came and took everything away. He took everything we had there, the flowers and whatever else people put out there, and the pictures of the two of us, and even his hat that I wanted to save…(She starts to cry). I went to the police station, and they said legally they were not supposed to touch (a memorial collage) like that for at least two weeks.

What did the housing guy say when you confronted him?
He said, I threw it out, so what? Real snotty. And my thing is, why? Freddy was a good man. He helped people. You can’t wait to throw things away? Not even three days! He took away all his belongings. I’m traumatized from this. Everything that I had of him. Gone.

Nara Waid:

I hate people that walk really slow. It makes me mad, because I’m, you know, trying to get places? And sometimes when people are in their car, they’ll honk at me for no reason. And that makes me mad too.

So you’re crossing the street at a crosswalk…
Yeah, and it’s my light. And they’ll honk at me. And sometimes people will give me a dirty look.
Why would they give you a dirty look? Maybe because you’re a young person?
Yeah! Probably.

So, people that walk really slow. Where?
I see it a lot in Manhattan.

Like the tourists?
No, it’s usually people from here. They’re standing in the middle of the road. And I’ll say excuse me, and they’re look at me and just keep standing there.

So they’re disrespectful.
Yeah! Exactly.

And do your friends also have these experiences?
Yeah.

And you guys probably all complain to one another about these annoying things that people do.
Yeah! (We both laugh.)

Jeanette Torres:

This young generation that’s growing up now, they don’t have any respect for the elderly. I have gotten on the bus, and you see I walk with a cane. And the bus is full of young kids, and they will not get up to give me a seat. So it makes me angry. They don’t have consideration for the elder people, or the disabled.

Has it gotten worse?
Oh, yes. When we were growing up, everything was thank you, you’re welcome…I would get on the bus with my mother, and she was also disabled, and they would help her get on the bus, and help her to her seat. But now there’s no consideration at all.

Have you noticed more rudeness among younger people?
Oh yes. Rudeness, no caring.

Why is this happening?
I read the Bible. And I know that Satan, the devil, is behind all this. He’s behind this young generation, and that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing.

I have a friend, she’s a church-going lady, she says the devil has been busy lately.
He’s been very busy. It’s sad. Because the kids are killing each other. They carry guns, they carry knives, they get on the train…I’m terrified of the train now. And even when I’m walking, and I see a group of young kids coming? I might look like I’m paranoid, because I don’t know if they’re gonna punch me in my face, grab me, throw me on the ground! These things are happening a lot! I believe that we are living in the last days. Because people don’t see they’re way out. They don’t find any happiness. They don’t have love, even among themselves. They walk out on the street and they’re angry all the time…They wanna do this, and they wanna do that, they wanna hurt you…This morning I was talking to someone about the young lady that was set on fire.

Oh yeah, on the subway in Coney Island.
How could you do that to another human being? He didn’t get away with it, he’s in jail, but still!

Well, do we have any hope? I like to have hope.
Yes. I have hope. Because the Bible says that when God restores all this wickedness, there’s gonna be a paradise, where people are gonna live forever. And Satan is going to be destroyed. He’s no longer gonna be in the picture.

David Shechter:

So what pisses you off?
David: Well, along the lines of politics…

I mean except for Trump and Musk! Well you know what? You can talk about them. It’s fine. Say whatever you want.
Well, they are the obvious choice of what to talk about. It breaks my heart to see what’s happening to the country. You know, the writing certainly has been on the wall, and people were a little too complacent, and not educating themselves well enough on the issues, and what the issues could be.

So it’s hard, sadly, to blame this administration, because they pretty much told people what it was that they were going to do, and now they’re making every effort to follow through with their promises,

So that ‘s your irritation with people concerning the current political situation.
It’s like, if you voted for the wrong candidate, or you didn’t vote at all, you’re really not in a position to be upset about what’s going on.

Arley:

(on his job as a diesel mechanic)
I don’t get mad like that, to be honest with you.

You’re saying you don’t generally get mad?
Yeah. It’s not gonna help me. I don’t go around people that make me mad.

So you don’t want to waste your energy on getting mad at people.
You can put it like that. I ain’t got time for it. I mean (someone else) can get mad, I don’t really care. Because it doesn’t bother me.

So when somebody acts stupid, you just detach from it and go about your business.
Yeah. I mean I might get mad a little, but it’s not gonna help me.

Lisa Gitlin