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Don’t Mess with Our Children

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (friendly version) states at number 19 heading among other others of equal importance that:

Protection from Violence – Governments must protect children from violence, abuse and being neglected by anyone who looks after them.

UN Convention on the rights of the child

In recent days Barbadians have been expressing outrage in response to the report of a teenager at the Government Industrial School (GIS) recorded naked in solitary confinement. The blogmaster is acutely aware the danger of blogging about matters involving children given the inclination by some in Internet fora to be irresponsible.

Troubling to the blogmaster is the breach of the rights of the teenager occurred while under the care of government. It is not lost on the blogmaster that in other jurisdictions persons charged with the responsibility of managing the GIS would have tendered resignations forthwith.

There is no need for the blogmaster to be prolix sharing thoughts on the heinous act that has occurred at the GIS. It should never have happened. Successive governments by mediocre decision-making are responsible. Adults whether employed at the GIS or parents are responsible. The country is responsible for protecting our children. Faith Marshall-Harris is correct when she reminds us that adults have a moral and LEGAL duty to report incidents of child abuse to the authorities- even if the abuse occurred at a government institution responsible for enforcing the very rights of children.

The blogmaster congratulates children advocates who champion the rights of children every day, every week and all the time. Blogs have been posted over the years (not enough) to expose challenges children face in the country. The number of comments these types of blogs garner is always an indication of the level of public interest in these types of matters. Then there is a predictable reaction when the matter currently provoking rage occurs. We are reactive to the inevitable.

The following related links were posted on Barbados Underground in 2017 to support a similar matter.

We do not place enough importance on little problems until there is a crisis situation.

The blogmaster refuses to consider the problems were not being highlighted to the management of the GIS and at other similar institutions over time.

The blogmaster refuses to consider the problems were not being highlighted to the Board of the GIS and at other similar institutions over time.

The blogmaster refuses to consider that the problems were not being highlighted to the minister responsibly for the GIS and at other similar institutions over time.

The blogmaster refuses to consider that the problems were not being highlighted to the general population by current and former employees of the GIS and other over time.

When we make the logical conclusion what does it translate to?

241 responses to “Don’t Mess with Our Children”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    Individuals like PLT are protected if more Barbadians in the know agitate for the change. This is the point.

  2. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    peterlawrencethompsonMarch 21, 2021 9:12 AM In his speech yesterday Minister Abrahams said “I also wish from the outset to correct the notion that my annoyance over this issue was triggered more by it being made public than by it actually having occurred. Indeed, there were two equally vexing occurrences that still have me troubled and deeply hurt and dismayed to this day…” e explicitly said that the actions of the whistleblower are just as bad as the torture of a child for 13 days.

    I had to let that digest. That a qualified lawyer, who should have the understanding of language phrasing and its content, to make such an outlandish statement, is shocking.

    One has to question either his capability or his mindset. Either way, it demonstrates an unsuitability for his current role.

  3. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    Finally, I must commend PLT for his courage in speaking out on this matter, as one of the few publicly identified people on this blog he risks considerable repercussions on our small island.

    Xxxxxxx

    I AGREE WITH THE ABOVE COMMENT 100 PERCENT EVEN THOUGH PLT AND I HAVE DIFFERED IN CHARLES HERBERT DRUG CRIMINAL MASTERMIND BEING LET OFF BY THE 2X3 ISLAND CORRUPT LEGAL SYSTEM.

    ALL THIS HIGHLIGHTS IS THAT MOST BLACK BAJANS DON’T STAND A CHANCE HAVING ALREADY BEEN SOLDOUT FROM BIRTH TO THEIR FINAL DEATH AND BURIAL AND ARE SIMPLE PAWNS IN THE JOURNEY OF LIFE TO GRAVEYARD.

    DOES ONE THINK IF THIS WAS A WHITE CHILD ON THE FAILED 2X3 ISLAND IT WOULD BE DISMISSED SO EASILY AND SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET BY TWISTED WILFRED ABRAHAMS.?

  4. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    The the Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act CAP169 of 1926 stipulates that “… the Principal may impose […] two days solitary confinement on punishment diet…” but the girl in question was so imprisoned for 13 consecutive days, a clear violation of this law.
    Will the Principal be disciplined for violating the Act??

  5. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    angela coxMarch 21, 2021 8:35 AM Yes bajans over the years has accepted Corporal punishment as a normal a punishment to keep children on the straight and narrow. The same behaviour accepted has raised it’s ugly head in an nstitution that is supposed to help children. What else should one expect when u sow the wind uh reaped the whirlwind

    On this I can agree with you. Hence my point on violence being culturally inherited. I am telling the blog, when it is considered from this angle it makes sense. What do we think happened on the plantations? Lashes for those who did not adhere to orders.

    I am saying that we need an active education on violence via discussion and coaching of alternative means, in the wider society. That is where it should start.

    How many times do we see someone post that ‘I get lashes and it ent do me no harm, look how I turned out’? But you know what? That person is wrong. The lashes were wrong.

    AC says if it is trained that violence is a solution, it will be accepted. She is right.

    What have the ‘young boys with guns’ learnt. Violence. So guess what, they use the ultimate in violence to get what they want. A gun.

    It should never, ever be a solution. A last resort at self defense.

  6. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    peterlawrencethompsonMarch 21, 2021 11:53 AM The the Reformatory and Industrial Schools Act CAP169 of 1926 stipulates that “… the Principal may impose […] two days solitary confinement on punishment diet…” but the girl in question was so imprisoned for 13 consecutive days, a clear violation of this law. Will the Principal be disciplined for violating the Act??

    Direct contravention of Article 16 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_against_Torture

    Ban on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
    Article 16 requires parties to prevent “other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment which do not amount to torture as defined in article 1” in any territory.

    No doubt, this is serious and demands urgent action.

  7. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “DOES ONE THINK IF THIS WAS A WHITE CHILD.”

    a white/minoirty child would not see the inside of GIS. the same negros would break their backs bending over backward to make sure it never happened, even if the child committed murder, just as they break their necks to make sure white/other minorities get a slap on the wrist or no slap at all…even for murder and drug trafficking….etc..

    remember….whites. indians, syrians can homeschool their children without explanation, but BLACK PARENTS COULDN’T WITHOUT GOING TO PRISON…..am sure with Covid all of that has changed…BY FORCE…but not one negro wanted to change it….ask Faith Harris…

    Crusoe…why do you seem so surprised…..i call it a blessing that a minister has SHOWN THE WORLD what we have been talkng about for years and years…and called liars….i don’t think he understands what he did, any logical comprehension is outside of his comfort zone..

  8. David Avatar
    David

    White parents do not commit their children to a GIS type institution.

  9. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Peterlawrencethompson March 21, 2021 9:12 AM
    “He explicitly said that the actions of the whistleblower are just as bad as the torture of a child for 13 days.
    This is so outrageous that he has brought the entire Cabinet into disrepute and must be dismissed from his post immediately.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Welcome aboard, PLT!

    Glad to see you have joined the Bajan branch of the human rights club by way of imbibing the principles long promoted by the likes of Waru and William Skinner.

    The only difference between the two political administrations is the colour of each banner behind which both incompetence and corruption reign supreme.

    That same mouse of a man and his predecessor previously sought to blame the ‘ordinary’ folks of St. Andrew, St. Joseph and St. John for bringing the water woes upon themselves just because they happen to be living.

    Now he has gone and made the whistleblower for children rights and justice the sacrificial lamb to attempt to subside politically the outrage of decent-thinking members of the public like you.

    But why seek to heal a deeply festering wound by covering it with tainted dirty paper instead of antiseptic dressings?

    Why put in the Chair to be the change agent for a more enlightened GIS whose moral philosophy is grounded in those Judeo-Christian punitive principles of ‘an eye-for-an-eye’ and ‘spare-the-rod and spoil-the-child?

    This is not the function of a bible-bashing psychologically damaged preacher woman or man but that of a more humane-oriented trained social worker or psychologist.

  10. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @David March 21, 2021 12:44 PM
    White parents do not commit their children to a GIS type institution.
    ++++++++++++++++
    If a White girl child shot someone with Daddy’s gun, they still would not end up in GIS. Why? Because we live on an unreformed plantation that is racist to its very core.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Peter if you are referring to Bejerkham blame the DPP and not the Court.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    Doug Maloney’s some went to Station Hill.

  13. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David
    White parents do not commit their children to a GIS type institution
    +++++++++++++
    You ever wonder why? Do you think white children are not recalcitrant too? Remember just a short while ago when Edgehill went on his rant? Didn’t some member of the family allude to problems growing up? That community settles problems in house, the worst some of us can do is expect that entrusting the care of our children to the Gov’t is a panacea for their/our problems.

    Does anyone know what percentage of children formerly resident of the GIS end up in adult prison? I would venture more than a few, a common refrain in my youth was “doan mine he, he is a Dodds boy”, in small societies very few overcome those labels.

  14. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    13 days?Tis was a ‘light’ punishment compared to 60 days.
    Did you all miss David at 5:24 a.m.

    Teen ‘preferred Dodds Prison’ over GIS
    By Maria Bradshaw mariabradshaw@nationnews.com
    An attorney at law who was hired by a mother in 2017 after her teenage daughter said she was placed in solitary confinement at the Government Industrial School (GIS) for more than 60 consecutive days believes this may be one of the first cases where a mother asked the court to transfer her child to HMP Dodds Prison because she was afraid for her safety.
    Attorney Michelle Russell spoke to the Sunday Sun after the mother gave her permission to highlight the situation involving the child, which occurred four years ago at the GIS.
    That child was so fed up and frustrated at how she was being treated at the school that she attempted to burn down the Barrows, St Lucy reform institution by setting a mattress on fire and lying down on the burning mattress.

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    Minorities manage their garbage with children on the down low.

  16. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Forget about color here. I will tell you that if a white child went to the GIS, his her experience would be different.

    Do you think employees at GIS are all barren. I suspect that they also have children.

    This is about class; this is house slave and field slave behavior. These are people educated to an uncle Tom mindset

  17. David Avatar
    David

    We should stay away from hypotheticals and prosecute the matter before us.

  18. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @David March 21, 2021 1:46 PM
    We should stay away from hypotheticals and prosecute the matter before us.
    +++++++++++++++++++
    I agree. The matter before us is that the GIS facility in St. Lucy has been proven by a preponderance of credible allegations not to be fit for purpose. The Minister ought to have acted before now to protect the vulnerable children still incarcerated there in a manifestly unsafe environment.

    PM Mottley must ask him for his letter of resignation.

  19. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I fully agree.

    Let me add that if nothing comes of this, in the next go around is it then a hypothetical. This makes it hard to simply focus on the bird in the hand. The bush is full.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    Agree the Minister must resign in the spirit of the type of democracy we are suppose to be practicing. If he does not then the PM must relieve him. One suspects if the plan was for Abrahams to resign the PM would not have allowed him to appoint a new Board.

  21. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    PLT
    I admire you lending you voice using your real name. I hope you have done all the calculations and you or none of your family would get caught by no such thing as a loan, referral, visa, building permit, etc…
    No need to reply. Just think it through

  22. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Jesus.. never reread what you post.
    And that was written without having a drink.

  23. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    @TheOGazerts March 21, 2021 2:12 PM
    Someone sent me the following this morning:
    “An extensive study in the U.S.A found that the most productive age in human life is between 60-70 years of age.
    The 2nd most productive stage of the human being is from 70 to 80 years of age.
    The 3rd most productive stage is from 50 to 60 years of age.
    The average age of NOBEL PRIZE winners is 62 years old.
    The average age of the presidents of prominent companies in the world is 63 years.
    The average age of the pastors of the 100 largest churches in the U.S.A. is 71.
    The average age of the Popes is 76 years.
    This tells us in a way that it has been determined, that the best years of your life are between 60 and 80 years.
    A study published in NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE found that at age 60, you reach the TOP of your potential and this continues into your 80s.
    Therefore, if you are between 60 -70 or 70-80 you are in the BEST and 2nd level of your life.”

    SOURCE: N.Engl.J .Med. 70,389 (2018)

  24. peterlawrencethompson Avatar
    peterlawrencethompson

    I found the above to be fascinating… but I should not be surprised because I feel that I have been more productive in the past five years than at any other time of my life.

    I attribute it to losing my fear of what people might think. My younger son put it this way to his elder brother, “Dad appears to have finally run out of f@cks to give.”

  25. Lest we forget Avatar
    Lest we forget

    I was just casually following a blog on facebook Just a little curious. Why would Christ Church East BLP constituency branch congratulate one of the new GIS board members?

  26. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    The word delinquent keeps cropping up. This is the name that is employed to describe these kids who end up in the government industrial school.

    Are these youngsters suppose to be borderline physcopaths? Are they truants? Are they disruptive in schools. Are they shoplifters?

    Is this the only solution to deal with these problem kids. To remove them from mainstream society and to dump them into a virtual prison; to dehumanise and institutionalise them in an establishment that was created well over 100 years ago.

    We are a small island and should have the capacity and the creativity to nurture these kids. They should not be raised in government institutions.

  27. David Avatar
    David

    They are underaged children who cannot be charged as adults for committing crimes some of them.

  28. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Big Up Jah B singing and wailing is the stars above above the clouds up in Heaven with Bob and Peter Rest in Peace

    You roots (you roots) you radicals you rock to the reggae
    You roots (you roots) you radicals you dub to the reggae
    You roots (you roots) you radicals skankin to the reggae

    You roots y’all

    now it’s the roots (the roots) the radicals the rockers and the reggae
    Roots (the roots) the radicals rockers and the reggae
    You roots (you roots) you radicals you step to the reggae

    You roots

    now there’s no stem, leaves, or branches without the roots
    You’ll never find a city of dudes without the radicals
    You’ll never see the earth without the rocks, they’re the foundation
    Music wouldn’t be music without reggae c’mon

    This is a cry of a people who for over 400 years have been enslaved in mental bondage
    A people who with their blood their sweat their tears and their hands they built great cities of babylon
    only to be paid the wages of the wicked the sword and the gun

    Your Roots Are Reggae

    Rise and Shine

  29. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ PLT
    You are wasting your time with people going about the place believing that they are “oldsters” at 45 ! I once was talking to a young man who was about 35. He looked me full in the face and told me that the “youngsters today” are this and that. He had already moved himself out of the youngstesr crowd. Look in the papers and you read about people less than 60 being referred to as elderly. Sometimes you have to wonder what planet these people live on.
    Ignore them @PLT.

  30. David Avatar
    David

    @LWF

    What is the point you are chasing here? It is not unusual for party faithful to be appointed to Boards by the minister in charge.

  31. Lest we forget Avatar
    Lest we forget

    David
    I once commented that all the outspoken persons were being coopted and so I never from reading this blog felt that the person was a party person.The blog carried all of Caswell articles from the news and was very impartial during the St.George Bye election. So persons must be very careful how influencers are working on social media in Barbados to make sure that the government wins 30 sets again.

  32. Lest we forget Avatar
    Lest we forget

    By the way I think the person seems like a someone who can contribute to that kind of organization.

  33. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Theo…just as we thought, earlier today i saw on FB the one Stephanie Chase one of the new GIS board members castigating the 14 year old child and literally calling her a criminal..in the most unprofessional outburst on such a huge platform……so you see, there are no plans to make changes to that toxic institituion since the new board member is already in cover up mode and lashing out at the victim, she should not even be speaking about that child in public…unprofessional and ignorant..

    as someone said in reply to HER WICKEDNESS..”

    “Ms. Stephanie Chase has clearly demonstrated below that she is not competent to sit on the board of the GIS. She is completely lacking the characteristics of mature judgment, logical reasoning, and human compassion which are required in that post.
    Ms. Chase has gained public profile for her imaginative gossip and colorful language, but that is a liability, not an asset.
    Her post about the child that was abused by the GIS with solitary confinement is completely tone deaf, legally warped, and simply serves to try to excuse the institutional failure.”

  34. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    That one wasted no time in showing what a total jackass she is…and a governent lackey…she’s just another failure, not surprised in the least, that’s all they attract to suck on taxpayers and the money isn’t even big for directors so she’s just another yardfowl, aka fowl Slave.

  35. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Stupssseee!!!

    The government won’t/can’t win 30 seats in the next election.

    In this community Lucille Baird is believed to be a “D” sympathizer. In case she fails as board chair–and to the best of my knowledge she has no training nor experience in psychology, psychiatry, social work, teaching etc. so I don’t know what she can bring to the chair. But anyhow if she fails, come next election the B’s will be delighted to have a “known D” sympathizer to take the heat.

  36. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    It is my belief that the government is playing political games with these children’s safety.

    It seems that for politicians nothing is as important as winning the next election, not even children’s safety.

    Perhaps, not even children’s lives.

  37. David Avatar
    David

    @LWF

    Yes she seems equipped to make a contribution.

  38. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    The fact that the crabs in the parliament refuse to give the Black/African population any information regarding their African heritage is more than enuff to get them ALL KICKED OUT of that cursed Slave parliament…everyone of them, they think they’re slick using dirty politics to become elected to keep the population in generational poverty so that minority beasts can feed off them and their children….then they will operate in Africa in stealth FOR THEIR SELFISH COVETOUS SELVES..leaving the people scrambing to survive…………the sellout negros have no shame…

    for the people to survive any of this first they have to get rid of the SELLOUT GOVERNMENT….

  39. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    As we get caught up in our own narrative, stories and points of view, free flow writing is a way of getting this out and down on paper to help us see things from a new perspective. From this, we can gain insights into patterns of behaviour that may not be serving us, and help us to become more mindful of our action

    Deep Flu
    Barbados needs to heal damages inside it’s body
    Dysfunctional people and systems
    like other places that need improving
    Here is some free flow writing as an emotional purge or detox
    check out mindfulness and focus wheels

    Blacklivesmatter
    seems absurd to blame black government
    Paradigm shift needed
    Homeopathic remedies
    Anger resentment bitterness
    Heal body and emotions from inside out
    Issues in the tissues
    painful remains of past
    trauma stored in body
    Governments selling people short
    not addressing issues
    self serving protective mode


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bqCdpuGonw

  40. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    A good morning to all.
    Woke up this morning and my mind seems to be blank.
    With no thoughts of the discussions that we have usually going on.
    Perhaps my mind will connect with my body again during the day.
    Have a great day Barbados

  41. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Treating Symptoms versus Addressing Root Causes
    If GIS recruit people from general public then problems lie within the whole of society
    Likewise, Waru’s claims of bad government is just a manifestation of bad people in a bad country
    [ Same goes for racism and policing in Western and Eastern Nations and also North and South ]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48y9bXJZGUA

  42. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    I’m Going In..
    I’m Comin In..
    I have been blessed with intuitive knowledge and would often tell my teachers they are/were wrong


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuUUeFZzXAc

  43. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    I don’t sing, but I’ve been lucky

  44. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    can we have another debate subject opened please
    I think I have won this one again man
    this one was too easy we need some bigger challenges to occupy our minds
    another problem solved
    another plan formulated and gifted to those stupid stupid bajans
    sometimes outside consultants with fresh minds are need to solve local issues in the tissues
    to see the woods from the trees
    with an out of world perspective
    with higher and more evolved minds

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlmRzqFpTBM

  45. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    In 1966 we became independent.
    With probably 11 changes of government
    and we have not evolved beyond a Dickensian society
    Black leaders with the mindset of a pre-Mandela South African government
    Never thinking of freedom, only of ways to torment ‘those of lesser pedigree’
    And we have with those who would defend with their last breath
    A society spiraling to certain death
    Becoming offended by constructive criticism
    Their defense based only on being on location
    “You are there. We are here. Go away
    What the hell are you talking about. I’m having a ball”
    They cannot see the broken spirits and dreams and dragging feet
    Cause for them life is sweet
    But in their minds they know their lies will end
    Cause they can hear the coming whirlwind
    TheOGazerts 2021

  46. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Enjoy the day

  47. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Never forget. Live good, treat others well, because….in the words of the great Johnny Cash…

  48. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    People in Barbados do not protest or riot so there will never be much change happening quickly.
    BLP will still win power against weak opposition anyhow,
    Complacency is a thing inna long talking

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYB6Njigxv0

    Easy Squeeze (make no riot)

  49. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Theo…it appears as Cuddear was hinting, the child was out late, the worried grandmother called the police, she turned up before the police arrived and the cops proceeded to physically assault her….so yes, there are 3 sides to every story, and the truth always wins…

    ..so that fraud Chase they just put on the board at GIS made herself famous for being a total idiot and an enabler…..of CRIMES AGAINST BLACK CHILDREN….

    now everyone knows her for what she is…

  50. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ TheOGazerts,

    You could visit the Diaspora Corner. Lots of great music videos.

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