Together
By
Albert B. Kelly
There are certain things
that restore your faith in humanity. It could be seeing people help the poor
and needy, giving donations, people helping at the scene of a tragedy, or some
other act of kindness or sacrifice that people do. But whatever it is, it
restores a measure of confidence in our fellow man.
But there’s the stuff that
destroys our confidence in people; making us doubt humanity and playing to our
baser instincts. I was reminded of this seeing videos and reading accounts of
alleged suspect Latia Harris out of Salem County. This individual was captured
on video apparently pummeling Catherine Ferreira in front of her 2 year-old
son.
From what is depicted on
the video, it appears that the assailant had to want it; meaning the attack did
not seem to be a spontaneous “in your face” thing; but the attacker had to
leave the work place (MacDonald’s), put down her apron as it were, and
physically track down the victim. It was not self-defense.
Another thing that stands
out, aside from the size advantage of the alleged assailant, is the fact that
there were people around watching and we know this because at least one of them
took the time to capture the incident on video. In it, we see the victims’ 2
year-old child trying to protect his mother while everyone else stands around
“rubber-necking” and watching like it’s the “Jerry Springer Show” or an episode
of “Cops”.
This brings back memories
of studying forensic science at Colgate University and the Kitty Genovese case
from Queens NY. In March of 1964, the 28 year-old women parked her car in her
Kew Gardens neighborhood and headed to her apartment. She was attacked by
Winston Moseley multiple times. After
stabbing Genovese repeatedly, Moseley drove away but then came and sexually
assaulted her in the doorway of her building before killing her.
The whole mess unfolded
over 30 minutes and 38 people in the neighborhood heard her screams or saw bits
and pieces of what was happening from windows and no one got involved. In the
Salem incident, numerous people saw what was happening but no one did anything.
Not even the desperate cries of a 2 year-old child prompted anyone to
intervene; if only to pull the child from harm’s way.
Now I don’t want to be too
quick to level criticism on the onlookers because some or perhaps most appear
to have been very young themselves and confronted with the violence in front of
them; I understand a hesitation to jump into the middle of this mess…but still.
But still, somehow, we’ve
become too comfortable with a level of day-to-day violence that was
unimaginable even a generation ago. And maybe the better discussion these days
is not the fact that no one jumped in to help- troubling as that is- but that
far too many of us are way too quick to raise our voices, clench our fists,
pull our weapons, and show our backsides at the drop of hat as demonstrated by
the string of recent headlines in our area.
But this is where good
people of good will can work together to reduce violence in whatever form it
appears. Too many times if something happens in Millville, people in other
parts of the county cluck on about how bad things are “over there” but that’s
it. If it’s a headline from Bridgeton, we hear the same clucking, often in
print, about how bad things are “over here” but little else and of course a
headline out of Salem is something we dismiss as “their problem”.
The end result is that we
become like the onlookers who see what’s happening, but do nothing. Maybe we
can start to change that by sharing strategies, intelligence, and resources
across our boundaries. This isn’t a competition between that side of the county
or this side, between the townships and the cities, or with a neighboring
county…we’re in this together.
In the weeks ahead, I will
be discussing the details of just such a forum where we can gather and begin to
tackle these problems together. Since January, I’ve attended upwards of 20
meetings with local, state, and federal officials including Attorneys General,
prosecutors, and analysts. While the focus was on reducing crime and violence,
the message was always about doing it together.
It’s a seed we’ve been
planting regularly; now it’s time we harvest some of that fruit…together.