Time to end the carnage
Published:Saturday | May 8, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
As an African American and a professor at a distinguished university, I am disturbed by the violence that continues to permeate your nation. I, and a Jamaican colleague, work together politically on ways to articulate and proactively communi-cate the dynamic issues relating to this violence. Almost immediately, there, we receive the grim news of another egregious murder, with its own related criminality.
When I interpreted the history of Jamaica and its concerned statesmen, I have identified why your country socially bleeds, so profusely. The citizens of Jamaica should have an opportunity to voice their abhorrence, with a call for relief, recovery and rehabilitation, from the Government. It is the Government and the leaders who are the servants (albeit the policy-makers), and not the other way around.
When I read about what happened to the five-year-old child - his throat lacerated - it is a clear horror for all! If this kind of crime were to take place here in the United States the entire city would come out and demand that the killer or killers be apprehended. Where are the advocates of humanity with their influence? How long it will take before the Jamaican Government comprehend the reality and cease the circus performance around this subject of crime and violence?
News online
The news online conveys the case about the minister of justice in court, saying she does not have an address for an alleged drug dealer and gun-runner, who has a warrant from the US Government. This is a gross affront to the nation - indeed, the world.
As reprehensible as you may think crime and violence is in such a small nation, clearly, there are individuals who must be called upon for open and public declarations against it, and a pledge of commitment to its eradication. There is no place in such a debacle for the irresolute. All must be called upon for a pledge to a higher morality. Concurrent to these temporal matters, there must be a people-level campaign to addressing the deep-felt pain and despair, which by now has permeated most, if not all, facets of Jamaican society. Such efforts must take on the form of spiritual fortification.
Also, there must be a call for education-based outreach efforts in collaboration with politicians and NGOs alike. This coming together of both sides of the aisle will put an end to the depravity and carnage which have now become pervasive.
I am, etc.,
Prof GIBBS DAVIDSON