How many of the four people who walked past him were white? How many were black? How many knew which church he went to? How many knew whether or not he was on welfare?
It's not racism, bigotry, hate or anything else, other than simply the "Bystander Effect", a well studied human social phenomenon.
The Bystander Effect is a very bizarre thing, easy to state what you would do in those circumstances, easy to judge others for not helping. It's easy to say things like, "I would have helped the man," yet people who have said that very thing ended up later being caught up in the Bystander Effect themselves and did not, in fact, help someone who needed it at all. They stood there and watched, and then later were shocked that they did so. The more people who are witness to an emergency, the less likely any of them are to get involved and help. A lone witness will almost always help. The exception to the group who won't help are those in the group who have already been trained to help in an emergency, like a cop or a firefighter. Most people figure someone else will help, probably someone who is better trained than themselves. It's a real problem when everything thinks that, because no one helps.
The Bystander Effect is nearly universal, not merely something that happens in the US. It's so widespread and common that there are a few countries, France in particular, who have Good Samaritan laws that make it a crime for failing to help in an emergency. It happens all the time. And yes, it's sad when it does.
