A senseless attack

Dennie Quill, Contributor

LAST WEEK was not a good one for Jamaica. Her bloody and battered face gripped the attention of the world. For the clumsy handling of the extradition request for Christopher Coke to the deathly incursion in Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica was pilloried from all quarters and there is no immediate quick fix to our problems. The situation resulted in media frenzy defined by inaccuracies, distortions, rumours being stated as fact, and unsubstantiated reports being given legs on which to run.

Things have got so ridiculous that a Jamaican with the surname Coke was reportedly refused entry at Piarco airport in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, for no other reason than his surname. We must brace ourselves for worse.

Today, my outrage is focused on the destruction to the infrastructure, as often happens when there are periods of unrest or upheavals.

The persons who razed the Hannah Police Station in western Kingston were flexing their criminal muscles by firing the first salvo against the forces of law and order. But there is something else: this action by a few exposed the disregard they have for education, because that station was located a homework centre where students got help in completing their assignments.

Good education

The criminals missed the significance of such a facility because they clearly cannot understand that if young children are given a chance at education they may escape the life of misery that is so evident around them. These same criminals will grudgingly look at children who live uptown and murmur about how privileged they are, but they fail to acknowledge the emphasis their parents place on education. They spare no expense to see that their children are given all the necessary tools to succeed at education. Their parents do not vandalise or destroy schools and educational facilities.

Today, there are loud voices calling for the rebuilding of the Hannah Town Police Station. This is estimated to cost $60 million. The same persons who want to see the station rebuilt must examine themselves and determine whether they contributed to the mayhem which culminated in the firebombing of that station. Have they ever taken a stance against criminality? Have they told the police what they know? Or is it that they are content to benefit from the spoils while they see and hear no evil.

Contribution

The citizens of that area should be willing to contribute labour and whatever resources they can muster to rebuild the station as a small step in the long road they must trudge to gain the trust of the police and to convince the authorities that scarce fund should be allocated to rebuilding the station. The forever in-crisis government must also find funds to rebuild the Coronation Market, police stations and other public facilities that were destroyed.

Jamaicans of whatever political persuasion or religious orientation now agree on one thing: we cannot continue like this. The wanton killings, corruption in every nook and cranny which has manifested itself in lottery scam, extortion racket, car robbery ring, must come to an end. It means that Prime Minister Bruce Golding and the Opposition now have a golden opportunity to try and reverse the rot that has set in. And as I have often said, we the citizens must do our part; we must take back our country and restore it to a safe and peaceful place. We must save our children from anarchy.

'The citizens of that area should be willing to contribute labour and whatever resources they can muster to rebuild the station as a small step in the long road they must trudge to gain the trust of the police ...'