Horace Levy | 'Animals' don't drop out of the sky

Fifteen shot, seven fatally, among them two young children, in one small town in a single day - that is Grange Hill's horror story that no other community would want to go through.

But does it justify the comment reportedly made by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, that the killers are "animals", "literally animals"?

If they were to engage the police in a gun battle, he added, he would not be telling the police to send for an ambulance.

Let us be clear about this. If those killers are animals, then so are we. We produced them. They committed very serious crimes and must be brought to justice. But these "violence producers" didn't suddenly drop out of the sky. Like it or not, they are our sons and daughters. We produced them. And it is time we broadened our focus to include the production process, the failure of our governments and of us who created it.

It could be that Prime Minister Andrew Holness had this in mind in a recent statement. He said the states of emergency (SOEs) remove the structures on which the violence of the gangs are built. However, he also stated that his next target would be the "propensity to violence" that afflicts the country.

By "propensity" Mr Holness could have meant the sources of the murders that climbed to 1,616 last year and that are climbing again. "Could have" but, frankly, I am not betting on it.

Delay

But targeting sources cannot begin too soon. Do we have to wait as long for this phase as we did for the ZOSOs and SOEs, Mr Holness? Delay means more horrible slaughters like Grange Hill's. Delay means that more and more people give up on democracy and prefer a military coup. Delay means more out-of-order comments like Minister Chang's, which encourage mob executions and extrajudicial policing.

Dr Chang must apologise to Jamaica.

What Mr Holness will prescribe for the "propensity to violence" that is now a subculture, a disease of epidemic proportions, is the really critical issue. The lesson not learned in 2010 was not - as Mr Holness has erroneously claimed - the ending of the state of emergency sooner than the Government wanted; SOEs do not address roots, do not cure. Rather, it was the failure not to have addressed the roots of the violence. For eight years now this lesson has not been learned. Will it be learned now? And what will be the curing medicine?

Communities need social workers to counsel parents how to raise children without endless beatings. Grieving or abused schoolchildren, many without lunch money, need along with lunch the therapeutic counselling of such workers - the fewness of appointed school counsellors leaves them totally overworked. Youth clubs and community development com-mittees need funding and resources for skills training, sports and rap sessions to guide and mainstream many fatherless youths. And worthwhile employment is the overwhelming need.

Can this Government not see that the conditions of deprivation and depleted social capital of an entire layer of our society are fostering the violence? Can it not grasp that tens of thousands of youth are being denied opportunities to express and develop their marvellous abilities? Can it not appreciate that this frustrated longing is turning youth into a feeding tree for criminal recruitment? And that treading on the heels of the criminals sent to prison by SOEs is yet another set? And another?

Can Jamaica Labour Party and People's National Party leaders not learn to listen just a little bit to those working in the field and grasp the simple truths they teach? Do they even not hear the cries of the dying, the wounded and the traumatised?

- Horace Levy is a human-rights campaigner. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and halpeace.levy78@gmail.com.