“It ain’t my business” is business as usual in Detroit.
In 1985, I was 15 and crawling on the side of the road after a hip fracture had laid me low. Traffic was busy. I was in obvious pain and waving for help. No cars stopped. A gas station clerk eventually came out to help me but didn’t initially because from far away she couldn’t tell if I was one of the homeless drunks that walked the neighborhood. At least that’s what she said. This was in the crappy suburb of Detroit I lived in at the time. I’m pretty damn sure I didn’t resemble a homeless drunk from far away or close up, but hey it was the 80’s. We wore some weird clothes.
In 2012, in Detroit proper, 86-year-old WWII veteran, Aaron Brantley, on his way home from Bible study was attacked and carjacked by a 21-year-old thug at a gas station. He crawled with a broken leg to the gas station store to get help while passersby ignored him. A surveillance video shows that once he made it into the store he was ignored even then. Finally, one customer picked him up and drove him home.
I guess things haven’t changed much in the city and the burbs.
I know how this looks to outsiders. Being from the area, I know there are good people here but this makes us look like a bunch of animals. I can even understand not wanting to get involved when you think something is fishy. But an 86-year-old man crawling on the ground? Seriously? Isn’t this taking the not my business attitude a bit too far? Mr. Brantley has gotten an outpouring of support since the incident. But you have to wonder how much of that is a result of shame.
The thug has been apprehended and the car found. Incidentally, this car was a replacement for one that was previously stolen. Mr. Brantley was fighting evil when he was probably younger than the cretin who attacked him. Can this veteran from the greatest generation catch a break?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtuXfGtOrPg]