It was a usual and uneventful day as any other day, or at least, it was supposed to be. Mai was doing her homework in her room, in that peaceful little house at 48th South Street, at Middlebury where cows populations could outweigh humans. Suddenly, she received a phone call from her Dean, who she has not talked to that much during her Middlebury carrier. Usually, it was her who contacted her Dean. "How come he is calling me ?" She picked up the phone, only to hear her Dean whose voice sounded quite urgent and unsettling: 

"Hey Mai, are you on campus? " - the student Dean asked

"Hi. Good morning. Yes, I am" - Mai answered.

"Alright Mai. We ask you then to stay in your room, ok? We have just got a call from Pubsafe. Apparently, they got a call from the state police department, saying that you are suspected to have involved in a felony offense store in town. Pubsafe and the police are on their way. Please stay calm in your room until they come to clarify the incident. I will be in contact...." 

Mai was in shocked, to know that Pubsafe and even state police were coming to look for her. All what her dean was saying after that turned into "bla bla bla..." All she could say was : "Wait, what is a felony offense ?"

"Meaning that you are suspected to have stolen in a store in town"

This time, Mai felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Ok, she did steal candies when she was small, and she did steal 2 money coins from her grand mother's pocket when she was 11, but she had never stolen or thought of stealing in a town before, especially abroad. Gosh, she needs a clear profile to study in the US, or her Asian family will disown her. She started to get panicked, could it be that she was stealing while sleep walking? That was the only explanation she could think of.

************

The Police came. 4 Police officers in the suit came knock her door. "Shit" - Mai thought, sweating all over. She always dreamed she would be famous and chased after one day, yet rather by paparazzi, not by police. Her Dean came a few mins afterwards. She felt like she disappointed him but she did not even know how and why. All her friends were outside her room with their mouths open. 

"Ok guys, I know you all think one day I will commit a crime, but I swear not this time, ok ?" - Mai thought she would cry soon. She was at loss. confusion. 

A police officer said "Mai, from the stationary store's camera, the owner saw a person hoarding a lot of notebooks and other materials then got away from the back door. We used the facial recognition system and got matched with a picture of yours on your student ID. This is also a still picture we got from the video tape".

As the police showed Mai two pictures, she was shocked : They were not the same one. In other words, she recognized herself from her ID photo, but not from the video tape. The still photo was blurry, and the girl in the photo, well, was Asian, but NOT her. She started to scream and mumble to the police : "Look, this is apparently not me. Ok, we both have asian eyes, but my eyes are still bigger. Look, my cheeks also look bigger, you see, I think I have been eating well these days. And and and, look, we both have low nose, but I think mine is still a bit higher, no? ghos, we look so different, could everyone here tell me how these two pictures look so different?"

Mai seemed to start shaking, and she looked a bit crazy. she went in front to each of her friend, showing them the two pictures : 

"I beg you, John, tell them, that these two pictures look different. I know I always ate your baggals, but please help me this time.

Jay, sorry I kick the ball to your face the other day, but look, will you testify for me?

and she ran to Linh : "Linh, we are both from Vietnam, would you please save me from this nonsense so my grandmother will not throw me out onto the street?"

And Mai started to cry, and cry, and cry, and cry. 

All heads started to come together to scrutinize the two pictures. One police officer said : "they actually look quite....different"

Ethan, with his calm voice as usual, even facing his friend's possible detention from police: " Hmm, I read that African American and Asian American were up to more likely to be misidentified that white men. Maybe this is it....."

A silence sank in, enough to hear Mai's scream "Yes, yes, yes". A police officer turned to the rest "Hey, could it be that the computer algorithm was wrong ?......"

***End***

Inspired by true story of Robert Julian-Borchak Williams, an African American, who was misidentified and charged for felony offense because of the fault in facial recognition system.