Contextualizing the life and death of Kitty Genovese
WE MUST
LEARN TO LOVE EACH OTHER
A remembrance by Mary Ann Zielonko, Kitty's girlfriend at the time of her murder.
STUDY
OF THE SICKNESS CALLED APATHY
A few weeks after the murder of Kitty Genovese, A.M. Rosenthal wrote a story in
The New York Times entitled 'Study of the Sickness Called Apathy.' To this day it remains one of the most heartbreakingly
poignant dissections of the crime and its aftermath.
The Kitty Genovese story has had a lasting effect on the national psyche and reverberated
deep into popular culture - even going so far as to influence the final episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. In this
clip, Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer not only witness a crime in progress and do nothing, they videotape the event for their
own amusement. Later called to trial under a so-called Good Samaratin law, they end up behind bars.
