The horrific shooting incident that saw 50 human beings killed and 53 injured at a night club in Orlando, Florida earlier today serves to confirm the frailties of humankind. Human beings everywhere must feel a sense of disgust at the wanton and senseless act of ‘mano a mano’ violence which seems to be sweeping the globe. Many are quick to explain that we have always had to live with violence going back to the Crusades of the 11th century. The struggle will continue until…
In recent weeks and months Barbados has experienced an several reports of gun related and violent crime. Fortunately we have not had the experience of multiple killings to compare with Paris, Orlando, Ohio and other places across the globe, however, there is sufficient evidence of the changing local crime landscape to be very concerned.
There was a time not too long ago on the island of Barbados a murder evoked a public conversation not just because it was a tragic act but infrequent as well. The tranquil and pristine nature of our neighbourhoods have become threatened as a result of lifestyle changes we have embraced influenced by the global village we have embraced. Barbados WAS the model tiny Black country others use to benchmark against, a country built on the tenets of law and order enabled by superior leadership in all facets of our tiny society. It seems to the BU household the characteristics which made us great we have willingly relinquished and are now being washed along in a stream or moral relativism.
Many of us have heard the saying when the US catches a cold the rest of the world, especially in the Caribbean, we sneeze. This saying although located to matters of economic performance the extrapolation can extend to the non economic. Given what is unravelling in the USA, Europe and other corners across the globe it portends the worst is yet to come.
There is another concern for Barbadians given the escalation in gun violence many attribute to drug trade, gang violence and a general break down in law and order. Reports coming out of Trinidad and Tobago where gun crime is out of control indicate Venezuelan soldiers are selling high powered weapons for food. The soldiers are very poorly paid and have succumbed to the temptation of reporting their weapons ‘lost’.
The time has passed for long talk and to be prolix. It is time for our leaders to act. It is time for the denizens to act. We have high unemployment among our youth and the devil as they say will find work for idle hands. An interview with youngsters on the block last week in response to shootings was eerily insightful. Enough is not being done to win the hearts and minds of our idle youth population. In a small society it takes a only a few disengaged youthful souls to disrupt the quality of life we want for our children.
We hope the Barbados Coast Guard and Marine Wing of RBPF have taken notice of the food for gun trade between Venezuelan fishermen/soldiers and Trinidadian and Tobago fishermen. We do not need another conduit for high powered guns being dumped into Barbados. While this is unfolding we are told to expect 700 Chinese workers to enter for the Sam Lords Castle project.
How do we get our boys off the blocks to be constructively engaged?
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