Leaders hoping peace march will turn tide in Westmoreland despite poor support
Published:Friday | October 28, 2022 | 12:12 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Firebrand clergyman Bishop Oneil Russell has blasted members of the Church for shunning Thursday’s peace march in Savanna-la-Mar, which was organised as a rallying cry in opposition to the escalating incidence of crime and violence in Westmoreland.
“I am totally disappointed because you cannot speak from two mouths. If you want peace, you must be able to attend a peace march,” Russell said, following the event, which was organised by the Westmoreland Neighbourhood Watch.
Since January 2022, Westmoreland has recorded 124 cases of homicides, a situation that has sent ripples across the parish.
“If you cannot come out and join a peace march, it doesn’t make sense that you even preach inside your churches,” Russell charged as he rebuked the leadership and members of the 10 churches which were formally invited to support the peace initiative.
“We have to do more than just preach inside our churches, we have to send a message to criminals as church leaders,” Russell told The Gleaner, while noting that now is not the time to sit idle and allow the parish to continue down the path of lawlessness.
He argued that the Church should be the voice of the community, a place where people should be able to run for comfort.
“The Church is losing that focus in Westmoreland. It is wrong if all you need to do is preach from the pulpits in your churches,” he added.
During the march, Russell urged citizens of Hudson Street, Dalling Street and other communities not to resort to violence to settle disputes with their neighbours.
“Talk it out and don’t shoot it out,” said Russell as he challenged young people not to live by the gun. “You don’t have to kill each other. You don’t have to use the gun to destroy other families.”
Lyndon Johnson, chairman of the Westmorland Neighbourhood Watch Council, said despite the low turnout, he was pleased that the peace march went ahead as planned.
“It was very successful. The crowd might not be big, but I think people along the route got the message and understood and supported the purpose of the peace march,” he told The Gleaner.
Wayne Josephs, the senior superintendent of police in charge of the parish, is hoping the event will yield the desired results.
“The message was very clear. I am hoping that the message actually reached out to those persons, that they don’t have to kill each other,” Josephs told citizens at the end of the march.
He said it is critical that the parish’s youth get the message that crime is not the answer to their problems, while warning that the new Firearms Act is designed to severely punish persons brandishing illegal firearms.