What would you do?

Gary Jacobsen
Published: March 24, 2008

On Feb. 26, ABC Primetime presented a program entitled “What would you do?” The purpose of the program was to determine whether or not ordinary citizens would come to the aid of someone who was being verbally abused by another in public.

The hour-long program presented a number of scenarios, but the one that interested me the most had college-age actors playing the roles of a counter clerk at a bakery in Waco, Texas, and a bakery customer who was wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf.

The clerk verbally insulted the young woman, saying (among other things) that she was not dressed “as an American,” and therefore he didn’t have to serve her. He also said she should go back to the
Middle East, or wherever she came from. The young woman who was playing the role of the purchaser politely informed the young man that she was indeed an American citizen and the fact that she chose to wear a head scarf was her own business.

ABC had a number of hidden cameras throughout the shop to record the reactions of other store patrons, and the results were startling. On at least six occasions other customers made favorable comments to the store clerk, thereby encouraging his outlandish behavior. Some went so far as to say they wished more Americans would stand up to the “outsiders.” The producers of the show followed these patrons outside and told them that they were putting together a program about discrimination, whereupon the people who had been so vocal in the shop suddenly became silent and tried to drive
away without responding to any questions.

But twice as many patrons came to the aid of the young woman in the head scarf, a matter which surprised the show’s producers. Adult women, in particular, did not mince words as they told the store clerk that his conduct was reprehensible. When interviewed later by the show’s producers, one woman broke down in tears because she was so ashamed that any American would treat another citizen so badly. One middle-aged man who also had come to the young woman’s aid was also visibly shaken by the encounter.

While watching the program, I wondered if a similar situation could ever arise in Prince William County — if, for example, someone like Greg Letiecq or Corey Stewart were working behind the counter and the person seeking service were named Maria Lopez or perhaps Rosina Gonzales. Would nativism again rear its ugly head? If so, how many citizens would come to the woman’s aid? You decide.

Sources:

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=4339476&page=1

http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/group_names_letiecq_as_nativist/5338/

Gary Jacobsen lives in Woodbridge.