Life is Precious #15 - Kitty Genovese and the Bystander Effect
I'm sure you've all run into those times where an injustice is occurring right in front of you and you just know somebody will do something about it. Then the "bystander effect" kicks in, and nobody actually does much of anything.
I was reminded of this recently while reading an article about a situation I'd read about as a kid. You may have heard the name Kitty Genovese, a young lady who was murdered in the early morning right outside her apartment building on March, 13, 1964.
Her killer Winston Moseley, attacked her with a knife at the entrance to her building with numerous witnesses watching and a few shouting for the killer to leave her alone. Again and again he returned repeatedly stabbing her, then raping her before running off.
Not one person helped her.
Her neighbor Carl Ross, opened his door, witnessed the attack, but instead of helping her, closed his door and asked his neighbor what he should do. His response? The now well-known rejoinder: not to get involved.
When asked later by the police why he failed to assist the young lady, he said: "I didn't want to get involved." Thus the phrase "don't get involved" entered the American lexicon as an excuse to do nothing in the face of injustice.
Good Samaritan Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax 31, a homeless illegal immigrant from Guatemala, lost his own life helping a woman who was being mugged, and died on the sidewalk while over 20 people walked past him without helping him. He'd been stabbed by his killer after stopping to save the woman, but nobody bothered to save him.
The Diffusion Of Responsibility
So this always stayed in my mind as a boy growing up, and I'd see numerous examples of this over the years myself. Born with a strong moral center, There were countless times where seeing that nobody else would do anything, I stepped up. While I never witnessed a murder, I did break the silence when many others would not.
I hate stupidity, red tape, and people in need being denied the basic dignity they deserve as a human being. I volunteered at a local "Christian" homeless shelter serving food in the kitchen. Hearing a commotion, I found staff searching a man's pockets. "What's going on?" I asked. Turns out this place had a policy that all food had to be eaten on the premises, and that anyone violating that would be permanently banned.
Remember, this is a supposed "Christian" organization...
So I head over and they found ironically, an apple in his jacket pocket. One apple...
The staff member is now telling him he's banned for life, while the guy explains that he only took it because his tent under the bridge is on the other side of town, and he didn't want to walk all the way back for dinner, so he was going to have the apple as his supper.
No dice. The staff guy had a heart of ice and ordered him out. I'm looking around, surely somebody is going to speak up about this right? Wrong, it was going to have to fall to me.
I sprung into action and shamed the dude. "You're a Christian right? you're gonna ban this guy over food?" I started spitting chapter and verse from the Bible and a crowd began to form. He was blindsided (I grew up in a religious family, so I know the book). "You represent a Christian organization, and you're going to permanently ban a hungry man over an apple, is that correct?"
Feeling the heat, he stammered and said that it was their policy. "Who made the policy?" I asked, and was directed to the head Pastor. Off to his office I went taking the man and his apple with me.
'Tis The Season
I hate phony religious people, and due to my background, I know how to talk their religious talk. Christmas was coming up in a few weeks and I knew just what to do. Picture me in the Pastor's office quizzing him about this "policy" and holding up the apple as exhibit A.
What would Jesus do?
"All of this over an apple?" I got right to the point, one Christian to another. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you're going to allow a hungry man to be banned from this place over a piece of fruit. That's not what Jesus taught you is it?" I've suddenly put Mr. Pastor on the spot. "No" he replied, and as it turns out, the "policy" wasn't official at all...
The overzealous kitchen manager had an interaction years prior with a homeless person who'd dated his girlfriend and came up with the policy on the spot as a way of kicking this guy out. Afterwards, he used it as a cudgel to enhance his own authority. Once I'd made the Pastor aware of how this had been abused over the years, he quashed the faux policy right then and there.
After thanking him, I gave the man his apple back and loaded him up with as much food as he could carry. The "policy" was dead, and the following week, after an investigation, the kitchen manager was sacked and a measure of humanity was returned.
But the worrying fact is; what if I hadn't been there? Nobody else was stepping up! I really think that we all have a purpose in life if we choose to accept it. Thinking of Kitty Genovese dying at the foot of the stairs to the apartment of her neighbor Carl Ross. So close to help, but so very far away as he closed the door on her salvation.
A Life And A Legacy
Winston Moseley, the killer of Kitty Genovese, died in 2016 at the ripe old age of 81. The murder of Kitty Genovese ushered in the modern 911 emergency call system that didn't exist back in 1964. It has saved countless lives over the years by allowing the authorities and first responders to respond to emergencies in the nick of time.
This event stayed with me and lit a fire inside that has never been quenched. If you see something, say something. Don't just stand there and watch (or just film on your phone), get off your ass and fight injustice. Shake off the hold that the bystander effect has on others and take action. The life you save could be your own.
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