Garth Rattray | What happened to Greenwich Town?

When my mother came to Jamaica from Cuba, she joined her relatives at 18 West Avenue in Greenwich Town. My father, and his several family members, occupied the guinep tree yard at the intersection of Spanish Town Road and Waltham Park Road. The two met because of their school. They married and lived with their first two children (my little sister and me) at 2½ Greenwich Avenue.

They rented the entire little house; it was owned by a reclusive sergeant of police who occupied a section of the property that was divided by a fence. Even way back then, the house was very old. Many houses within the Greenwich Town community were basically designed around the same era. Zinc roofs, gypsum ceiling tiles, pebble dashed concrete walls, sash windows, concrete or wooden floors that were stained red and had to be cleaned using a coconut brush.

We had running water and electricity; but the washing was done outside in a cistern. There were many tenement yards within the community. However, crime was exceedingly rare and so were interpersonal conflicts. The ‘village raising a child’ thing was very active at that time, even up to and including the early 1970s. Children were corrected, scolded, and reported on by anybody. Likewise, they were watched over by ‘hawks’ and protected by everybody. We all knew one another, and we all looked out for and took care of one another.

Some families had better amenities than others, and some were more financially secure than others, but the community was poor. At that time, the consequences of poverty were not devastating. Communities like Greenwich Town had a way of supporting the less fortunate and allowing them to keep pace with others around them. The children and youths aspired to become civil servants (which included government staff and teachers), top tradesmen, members of the security forces, part of the legal, medical or engineering profession, office workers, and perhaps working within the music industry.

ONE SINGE MURDER

Throughout all my years there, I recall one single murder in Greenwich Town. A ‘Rastaman’ (so designated only because he wore locks and a beard), killed his wife and feigned injury by rolling himself in her blood. I remember him being taken away by the police and the collective horror and distress within that yard and the community. It was spoken about for years. The horrific crime was seared deep within our minds.

In the early 1970s an unhealthy social transformation began taking shape. Instead of putting into place social reforms that ensured that every needy child made use of the educational (academic and vocational) opportunities available to them and assuring that the job market would accommodate disenfranchised citizens, some politicians [from both political tribes] took advantage of the disadvantaged and offered benevolence to those who would follow and support them … made them dependent on support from ‘politics’. A path of least resistance was open to the very vulnerable and impressionable youths. Naturally, that produced deep fractures within underdeveloped communities.

The sociopolitical divide spawned fierce competition and, eventually, violence was brought into play. The violence escalated until deadly weapons (firearms) were imported and used to fend off invasive political opponents and to keep the wayward local electorate in line. Naturally, this led to the supremacy of violence, the glorification of firearms and a legacy of disrespect for human life.

UNSUSTAINABLE

Supporting the dependent masses that they created was unsustainable. The politicians segued into indirect overseers and recognisable objects to be put into power so that the benefits accrued simply by being in power would trickle down to the helpless and impoverished. It was during this phase that select individuals took control of the political gangs. These leaders used innovative means to acquire power and funds to continue the support of the communities that became dependent on them for all the things that an efficient government ought to do.

Greenwich Town and similar communities were administered by various government entities as they rapidly degenerated into dens of indiscipline, lawlessness, aggression, and wanton violence. The career choices of the impressionable youth became severely limited. Only a relative few were able to achieve the escape velocity needed to fly above the powerful and constant pull of the gangs.

Sadly, for them and for our entire country, the inner-city and disenfranchised youth do not have the luxury of a stable home by which to be influenced by good family values, the main ingredient in making career choices. The number of fatherless households in Jamaica is astounding. Father figures have been replaced by gang leaders and crooked individuals that impress the youths with their badness and bling.

Additionally, many children either evade school or go through their formative years in a distracted daze, daydreaming of romantic interludes and quick and easy money (ill-gotten gains). With no real family nucleus, lacking in proper education, and the influence of criminal gangs, fraudsters, scammers, and corrupt leaders, we are left with too many antisocial citizens who march to the beat of a bizarre, alternate culture that is subsuming our much vaunted but slowly evaporating ‘Jamaican culture’.

Now, despite the police presence, Greenwich Town is mired in violence, contract killings, and fear. It has become a haven for gun-toting youths, badmen, and scammers. Killings have occurred while the police actively investigate murder metres away. Beheading and topside, versus bottom side Greenwich Town is now a sad reality. What happened to Greenwich Town? Our politicians failed it.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.