freespirit
15th September 2011, 10:36 AM
http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/regina_man_drowns_as_people_refuse_assistance/131bf10b
A desperate man spent about 30 minutes asking people to call 911 after his friend slipped under the surface of a manmade lake in Regina. The woman who finally called the emergency services speculates no one else helped because of racism.
Darlyn Boyd Johns is dead. He drowned in Regina last weekend.
If anyone cares, they have a strange way of showing it.
Johns was swimming in a manmade lake in the city when he went under. His friend – who was unnamed in a news report – asked people in the area to call 911. He asked to use their cell phones to make the call that might save a life.
Instead, he was ignored for about half an hour.
The woman who finally dialed 911, Lani Elliott, says "people dismissed him on what he looked like." She said the man asking for assistance is aboriginal and was dressed in a way that indicated he may be homeless. And she thinks that's why no one else would help.
If that's true, it means prejudice may have cost a life.
I'm not saying Johns isn't at fault for going into a lake where swimming is not allowed. And there's no way to know if an early call to 911 and emergency response may have been the difference.
Elliott said that when she called 911, the response of the emergency services was stellar. Police were on the scene in about two minutes.
For the people who turned down a request to help, there must be some serious regret today as they read about a dead man in the lake they strolled around on Saturday afternoon.
We all have prejudices. We're all susceptible.
Some of our prejudging is barely noticeable, while other reactions are overt and may even be spoken in certain company.
The key to being a good human being is to ignore past experiences when faced with someone new. That may run counter to our caveman instincts.
Before societies advanced, it probably made sense to fear things that appeared to be similar to other threats. Coming across a bear for the first time, an early human would have a better chance of survival if they remembered that things with big teeth and claws could be dangerous.
Today we have to consciously fight the instinct to assume a person who looks a certain way must therefore be like other people who appear the same way.
Not so many generations ago, our forefathers would see the skin colour of a man they had never met and assume them to be inferior. Today it seems we are still able to look at a man who appears homeless, or a man who appears aboriginal, and prejudge them.
This raises questions about Canadian society, not just the people of Regina.
The term "dignity of life" is thrown around, often in relation to death. But for people on the margins of our society, dignity can be as simple as being treated like an individual.
We all deserve the help of others, whether it's a matter of life and death, or if it's just another day.
Would you be willing to help someone who appeared homeless? Have you ever held back from helping someone because of appearances?
...not that i agree with everything in this article, but it does raise some interesting points.
A desperate man spent about 30 minutes asking people to call 911 after his friend slipped under the surface of a manmade lake in Regina. The woman who finally called the emergency services speculates no one else helped because of racism.
Darlyn Boyd Johns is dead. He drowned in Regina last weekend.
If anyone cares, they have a strange way of showing it.
Johns was swimming in a manmade lake in the city when he went under. His friend – who was unnamed in a news report – asked people in the area to call 911. He asked to use their cell phones to make the call that might save a life.
Instead, he was ignored for about half an hour.
The woman who finally dialed 911, Lani Elliott, says "people dismissed him on what he looked like." She said the man asking for assistance is aboriginal and was dressed in a way that indicated he may be homeless. And she thinks that's why no one else would help.
If that's true, it means prejudice may have cost a life.
I'm not saying Johns isn't at fault for going into a lake where swimming is not allowed. And there's no way to know if an early call to 911 and emergency response may have been the difference.
Elliott said that when she called 911, the response of the emergency services was stellar. Police were on the scene in about two minutes.
For the people who turned down a request to help, there must be some serious regret today as they read about a dead man in the lake they strolled around on Saturday afternoon.
We all have prejudices. We're all susceptible.
Some of our prejudging is barely noticeable, while other reactions are overt and may even be spoken in certain company.
The key to being a good human being is to ignore past experiences when faced with someone new. That may run counter to our caveman instincts.
Before societies advanced, it probably made sense to fear things that appeared to be similar to other threats. Coming across a bear for the first time, an early human would have a better chance of survival if they remembered that things with big teeth and claws could be dangerous.
Today we have to consciously fight the instinct to assume a person who looks a certain way must therefore be like other people who appear the same way.
Not so many generations ago, our forefathers would see the skin colour of a man they had never met and assume them to be inferior. Today it seems we are still able to look at a man who appears homeless, or a man who appears aboriginal, and prejudge them.
This raises questions about Canadian society, not just the people of Regina.
The term "dignity of life" is thrown around, often in relation to death. But for people on the margins of our society, dignity can be as simple as being treated like an individual.
We all deserve the help of others, whether it's a matter of life and death, or if it's just another day.
Would you be willing to help someone who appeared homeless? Have you ever held back from helping someone because of appearances?
...not that i agree with everything in this article, but it does raise some interesting points.