Man, thank you. I’m responding to you because I might be banned from Medium if I replied to that and many other responses! How is it okay that we accepted only a credentialed authority can intervene witnessing a miscarriage of justice?

Am I mad? Who are these people? Who raised them? Has the indoctrination been this thorough? Wow! This is just plain wrong. “Why didn’t you say you were a Dr?” “Why didn’t you _____?” Does it matter who? When a man observes another man’s suffering without recourse to help or protection?

Is it not my obligation to reach out to help whenever — especially in this climate of proliferation if not escalation in police brutality— I see even the potential of increased suffering of another being?

This man acted as his brothers keeper and the first question that came to your mind was ‘how dare he?’. When did we become this infantile in our thinking? ‘Little Jimmy is about to be set on fire by the neighborhood kids but Mum said to mind my own business and stay indoors’? These are the same people who watch a woman get murdered in the street whilst everyone watched from behind shaded windows!

I understand it, really, this is not rare at all. I’m probably over-reacting. The police are entitled to their assessment of the case whatever errors that may entail. We insist on our angels and demons ignoring the flickering light which would reveal we are all the same people.

Somewhere along the line we got so scared of each other, got trained to be suspicious of each other that we completely outsourced the responsibility of the carriage of justice and judgment to the men in black. When did we decide that a man was anothers to do with and none of this our concern?

Didn’t we leave this behind with slavery? And womens emancipation? And exploitation of children? That witnessing injustice implicates us in the crime? I thought we agreed on these? That from henceforth we must all bear dutiful witness? That we must if nothing remind each other that we are not alone?

Does the law not impose a duty to act when Officers transgress the boundaries of their office? Even at the price of the potential for loss of life? Was this man not under a duty to act and liable to a charge of omission?

Or is that event still yet to come? How long before we cease to be afraid of each other? At what cost does the curve begin to signal a transformation?

This is not black, white, Arab, Jew — this is a question of what qualifies as human and the test scores reveal our distinction from animals is a pack of lies. Strange and interesting times, these . . .