Op-ed: Prod Bystanders to be 'Upstanders' like Darnella Frazier

Senior Fellow and American Planning Board member Zachary D. Kaufman’s op-ed, titled “Prod Bystanders to be ‘Upstanders’ like Darnella Frazier,” was recently published by the Houston Chronicle.

Here is an abstract of the op-ed:

“The crucial — maybe even essential — role of an onlooker’s viral video in convicting George Floyd’s killer compels us to revisit an age-old question: In a time of crisis, what, if any, duties should we owe each other? Darnella Frazier is rightly receiving recognition as a “hero” for bearing witness to Derek Chauvin’s heinous offense. Other recent spectators to violent crimes have not been so helpful. Our laws should impose a duty to intervene in such serious misconduct when it would be safe and reasonable for a civilian witness to do so.”

To download the op-ed, visit here.

This publication is the latest in a series of articles, essays, and op-eds that Zachary is writing on bystanders and upstanders that will culminate in his next book. His work on this subject can be found in the following publications:

• “The Law and Politics of Bystanders and Upstanders” –forthcoming with Cambridge University Press
• “Digital Age Samaritans”– published by the Boston College Law Review, availablehere
• “Protectors of Predator or Prey: Bystanders and Upstanders  amid Sexual Crimes”– published by the Southern California Law Review, available here
• “Lessons from Rwanda: Post-Genocide Law and Policy” – published by the Stanford Law & Policy Review, available here
• “What Makes People Save Lives? Learning from Upstanders and Bystanders” – published by the New York Daily News, available here
• “No Cover for Abusers; California Must Close Gap in its Duty-to-Report Law” — published by the San Francisco Chronicle, available here
• “When Sexual Abuse is Common Knowledge – But Nobody Speaks Up” — published by the Boston Globe, available here
• “Give the Nobel Peace Prize Posthumously” — published by Foreign Policy magazine, available here
• “Islam is (Also) a Religion of Peace” — published by Foreign Policy magazine, available here