The embellishments and lies distributed in past days by the media only damages Hartford’s reputation. Posting video of a person lying in the street after being hit by a car seems to be in bad taste, serving no function, except ironically, to show that the reports do not line up with reality. As several, including Heather Brandon, have noted, the time lapse between the accident and assistance was about 90 seconds. People did help. Those people happened to be the police.
Before making all kinds of judgments, let’s hear some reasons for possible bystander inaction:
1. callousness and/or apathy toward fellow human beings
2. trauma from witnessing a kind of violence
3. ignorance of first aid (most people are not required by their jobs to be trained in this)
4. lack of cell phone (that would have been my reason for not calling 911)
5. assumption that someone else had already alerted authorities
In times like this, we can’t trust the media or total outsiders to carefully assess the situation. For all of the judgments cast on witnesses, one could ask why journalists, who routinely capture violence (sometimes preventable) on camera do not put their cameras down to help. Just saying.
There have been a few more sensitive and sensible responses to recent highly publicized incidents, as well as to other misinformation distributed by the media:
breaks it down for you on her blog:
What’s happening in Hartford is happening “to us all,” it’s just that you may not see the same kind of hit-and-run just anywhere as a case-in-point demonstrating the ills of today’s society.
The city does not have a monopoly on purely self-interested behavior. That’s an issue we can all own, rich or poor, highly educated or not, wherever we dwell.
sent out a press release days ago:
Mayor Eddie A. Perez is calling on the people of the City of Hartford to turn
their outrage into action in the wake of recent incidents that have plagued the Capital City.In a news conference with city leaders, business owners, clergy, and family members of victims,
Mayor Perez says, “We are here to stand together as a community and a city and send a clear
message: We are not going to let anybody take away the progress we have made to make
Hartford a safer city.”The group was unanimous in their feelings that the “City of Hope and Opportunity” is filled with
law-abiding citizens who partner with police every day to make Hartford more vibrant. That
was made clear by announcing the fact that four 9-1-1 calls were made within one minute
of an elderly gentleman being struck on Park Street.Joining Mayor Perez were Council President Calixto Torres, Majority Leader rJo Winch,
Minority Leader Larry Deutsch, Councilman Luis Cotto, Angel Sierra of SAMA (Spanish
American Business Association), businessman Carlos Lopez, Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts,
Superintendent Steven Adamowski, and Bishop Jeremiah Torres. Together they shared their
feelings of devastation about the acts of violence and prayed for the families. Angel Arce, whose
father is the victim in the dramatic video, shared in this collective plea for Hartford to continue to
show compassion and bring this and other crime cases to justice.Mayor Perez says, “As a community, we have made the city safer over the past few years,
however, it is also true that these terrible acts that have harmed our community show we still
have a long way to go. Again, we as a city must turn our outrage into action and become full
partners in the drive to build on our progress.”
When I write about these issues, I feel like I am in my classroom, teaching about logical fallacies. It’s no surprise why quite a few students enter with the belief that one can only be entirely for or entirely against something–society emphasizes this kind of thinking. It is possible to have many emotions while at the same time understanding facts and statistics.
reminds readers that witnesses might be hesitant to act because they could be sizing up the situation. If it is true that the hit-and-run happened after a car was following another at high speed, then there’s a chance that the situation was not over. Last year I called the police when there was some kind of dispute happening on the street. Of course, the cops never showed for that one. After the people involved seemed to disperse, they reappeared in the same location a few minutes later, having raced around the block. Thing is, it’s easy to judge a situation when one is not in the middle of it.
explains why there can be hesitation to call the police. This is something that I have experienced when witnessing various activities that could have been crimes, or could have been something totally innocuous. Obviously, someone hit by a car would need help, but we can’t pretend that everything that happens is that cut-and-dry. And, most importantly, I think is that we can’t pretend that Hartford is an island experiencing unique problems. Again, let me remind that insidious crimes occur in the suburbs, and people routinely turn their heads. Instead of it being a hit and run, maybe the crime is domestic violence, a young teen developing a drug addiction, or incest. To be honest, I’m more understanding of someone being emotionally paralyzed after witnessing a singular horrific accident or crime, than I am of someone who refuses to act during a long term problem.
So, while Hartford is being (once again) cast as the villain, wonderful things are happening here. I’ll get to that in a minute, but I think we can’t lose sight of this. Last week, someone was brutally mugged, someone else was hit by a car, and someone’s decomposed remains were found in a basement. But, I think the norm here is to help others out, to not rob, to not ignore a situation, to be friendly. From now on, I might keep track of how many days I am able to safely walk to work or elsewhere. I should document the ways in which people do not behave like barbarians, because nobody is going to get this perspective from reading the newspaper. My neighbors hold doors for me. They’ve helped me when my bag of groceries bust in the elevator. People say hello when they pass. It’s not perfect. There’s broken glass and dog shit on the sidewalk; people crank their music and drive recklessly…but the extremes of gross behavior that we hear about are not the norm. Not by a long shot.
On Thursday there was a discussion at the library about discord between gays and transfolk in the GLBTI community. (And for the record, I spent a few hours there beforehand, and did not come upon anybody having sex in the bathroom, looking at porn on the computers, or stealing books) Not everyone agreed on where the problem was or even how to resolve it, but the conversation was civil and interesting. There was talk about youth outreach (to prevent suicide and keep kids off the streets), being a triple minority (black, female, and gay), recognizing the different pieces of ourselves, not letting others define us (coming up with our own labels, whether they be “queer,” “trans,” “genderqueer,” etc), and how being a parent can complicate how and when we decide to come out. I forget who said it, but my favorite thing said was this: “People who were happiest were living their lives in an uncompromising fashion.” Amen!
I left the discussion a few minutes early to get down to the park so that I’d catch some of the blues festival. Talk about diversity! There were bikers, bicyclists, families, teens, and that after-work crowd. Between the police presence and ample portapotties, event planners went out of the way to make concert goers feel safe and comfortable.
There are plenty more reasons to come into Hartford this summer. The City of Hartford website lists some upcoming events. On Tuesday, CCSU’s Institute for Regional and Municipal Policy, Soujourn Theatre, and HartBeat Ensemble will be having a presentation with time for community discussion on why “Connecticut has lost more young adults ages 25-34, since 2000, at a faster rate than any other state in the country.” This will be from 8:30-9:45 in the Hartford City Hall Atrium, and from noon to 1:15 at the Legislative Office Building in room 2B.
There will be a series of free events at the Riverfront, including: