What makes a man expendable? Why can we write off other humans so easily? How has this society turned into one so self-preserving that we cannot extend basic decency to another person?
In one of my classes, we talked about the craze surrounding helping children in impoverished countries, and how often the tag line would be something to the effect of “one million children,” as if the trauma and abuse suffered means less if it isn’t an outrageous number. One child forced into prostitution in Thailand is too many, but why do people only care if it is so large a number you can take out personal choice and personality?
Fred Othy murdered an innocent girl after taking advantage of her and lying to her, then had no problem letting someone else take the punishment, so obviously he isn’t a good person. There is a lack of guilt and shame that makes him able to look someone in the eyes and destroy their lives. However, Hughes makes an interesting case that it could be easier for Othy to pin it on a black man. Venner wanted Hugh to be the culprit because it made him fit nicely into the preconceived notions he had of black men. It was so easy for Othy to get away with, that he himself might believe Hugh deserves it. The deep racism makes Hugh less human in his eyes so Othy believes why should he not pin his crimes on Hugh. The law wants it to be him, Othy does too, so it just makes sense
Even today we see these repercussions of destructive stereotypes and the injustice in legal systems around the world. Preconceived ideas of what people are capable of lead to innocent people going to jail for decades. Society needs to move past stereotypes and generalizations. Problems for an individual are still problems, we don’t need to wait until one million people are affected before we try to fix it.