[upbeat contemporary music]
- [Dapper Dan] My first start in fashion,
I used to go downtown,
buy furs,
and come uptown
and sell 'em,
till I got the idea that,
maybe I should just open up a store.
[upbeat hip-hop music]
But what was taking place at the same time
it was the birth of hip-hop.
I had the hip-hop artists
who were generating the most excitement.
As hip-hop crossed over,
Dapper Dan crossed over with hip-hop.
[upbeat hip-hop music]
In fashion, you have to stay relevant.
And you stay relevant with your contact with the street.
So I said, you know what,
I'm gonna make sure
that
I'm always anchored here in Harlem.
[people greeting]
[people mumbling]
- [Bystander] These are the ones, baby.
- [Dapper Dan] Even if you
make it to the top,
make sure your feet is still on the bottom.
[person wailing]
The pain that I saw that has taken place
and continuing to take place during the pandemic,
I was able to make it through it
and am able to make it through it continuously.
But I see a lot of pain around me.
In terms of Harlem in the, in the vaccine.
A lot of us feel
that our community has always been attacked
when it comes to things like that.
Used as guinea pigs.
Now everybody's pushing us to take a vaccine.
So automatically that makes people of color suspect.
But I think it's more important
that we pay close attention to the professionals.
The biggest difference has been seeing so many people
of color in the medical field that gives us assurance.
- [Mary T. Bassett] Are we, where are we recording?
We're already recording.
- Are we?
Are we running?
I'm enjoying this.
The vaccine, it's like,
a lot of young people are skeptical about it.
- Yeah. I do wanna say that,
that people have a reason,
black people in particular,
have a reason to have a certain amount of distrust
for the healthcare system
because it hasn't always been trustworthy.
And I always start out by saying, and I do understand that,
and I don't want to dismiss as silly, you know,
when people reference the Tuskegee experiment, for example
which was an unconscionable violation of the rights
of these poor sharecroppers black men in the South.
But as you say
that's not a reason to decide not to get a vaccine
that we have every reason to believe is
is safe and effective.
It's been given to nearly 78 million people so far.
These vaccines, the first two that were approved
for emergency use in, in the United States
they use a bit of the, of the genetic material.
It's like a blueprint for the protein that's
on the surface of the virus that your body would recognize.
And, and it makes your body's machinery make that protein.
You know
so this is a much kind of cleaner, more modern technology.
And it's very exciting that it's been put into use.
- Why is it
that people of color are so
infected more so than non people of color?
- There is a much higher risk of getting infected
with COVID getting sick from it and dying
of it among people of color, meaning blacks, Latinos
indigenous people, American Indians.
The risk of dying is two to three fold higher.
For black people, we showed, it was 3.6 times higher.
Not only are black people and other people of color
dying at higher rates.
We're dying at younger ages.
And that is probably related mostly to exposure
meaning who are the essential workers who's out there
stocking the shelves in the supermarkets
delivering the things that people like me need
so that I can stay at home?
- Some of the people that I've talked to
in my neighborhood are concerned
about is there a racial component involved
in how the vaccine takes to the system of different groups?
- [Mary T. Bassett] Oh.
That's a really good question.
And the answer is no.
All of us are the same species, we're human beings.
And the things that we identify
as racial in our society, skin, color, hair texture
other aspects of people's appearance
are really minor variations across human beings.
And there's no reason to expect
that there will be difference in response to the vaccine.
- Should you be concerned about the options
and what to take?
Because they're not telling people
until they show up which one they're getting.
- Well, they are all the same
in the sense that they all protect strongly
against severe illness and hospitalization and death.
And I would recommend that you get whatever's
on offer on the day that you go to get your vaccination.
- We used to live right up here.
[men mumbling]
[wind buffeting]
- We can see the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic
but it's gonna take all of us together.
- How are you doing?
- [Nurse] I'm good. How are you?
Your last name?
[nurse mumbling]
April.
- Yes.
[hospital room occupants mumbling]
- [Nurse Assistant] This is the physical copy
of your vaccination card.
Keep this somewhere safe.
All right.
I'll go hand this back to you sir.
[hospital occupants mumbling]
- [Dapper Dan] I just came from taking the vaccine.
That needle went in and out so fast.
I didn't even know when it was time to get up, man.
I got this protection now, man.
I'm feeling great.
We in East Harlem right?
And I grew up in Spanish Harlem.
So I feel like I'm wanna dance some salsa right now.
Right over there.
[foreign language]
I've been missing that night crazy boy.
But I'm still wearing my mask.
[uplifting atmospheric music]
If you're gonna listen,
listen to professionals.
Give professional advice.
That's the information that I take
and that's the reason I'm taking it.
[uplifting atmospheric music]