Women in Action (WIA) network of organizations and individuals advocating for the closure of the Government Industrial School (GIS) Barrows facility and the reform of the juvenile justice system, emphatically rejects the suggestion made in an interviewed aired on the CBC Evening News on 16th May, 2022 that claims of physical, sexual and psychological abuse made by current and former wards of the Government Industrial School (GIS) are ‘simply rumours’.
WIA is saddened by the shameful attempt by the Barbados Government to marginalize the voices of the girls crying out for help by handpicking two former wards to glorify their incarceration and to justify the abusive environment in the GIS that has existed for the past thirty-two years. In choosing to promote only positive experiences while ignoring the trauma of other girls who are crying out for help, the authorities are indicating that they do not care about all of the girls, and this is unacceptable.
We are making our position clear, if one child is abused it is one child too many and should be of concern to every one of us. Ultimately a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. We expect that our children, though being reprimanded, be treated with dignity and afforded the opportunity to be rehabilitated. The two former wards interviewed are not cases that we are overly concerned about because by their recollection, they did not experience or witness any abuse.
It is however the first time we have heard a young woman who was incarcerated as a child recount the experience of being placed in a cell in solitary confinement with such smiles, laughter and gaiety, and yet with no mention of an activities that she enjoyed in passing the time incarcerated. The sentence of three to five years for wandering is so normalized that going from a three weeks sentence to a three year sentence was accepted in the adult mind of this young lady as fair and deserving. That is the impact of systemic abuse.
As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Government’s handling of juveniles is governed by the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice and the UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency which provide that no child should be placed in solitary confinement. We are well aware that this International Convention has not been incorporated into domestic law and is therefore limited in its application in our domestic courts but that failure to follow through and commit ourselves to a standard of care for children speaks volumes about our Government’s true intentions for the nation’s children.
It is an insult to the intelligence of Barbadians and to our sense of dignity to attempt to drown out the cries of our youngest citizens calling for help. We recognize the desperate attempt to vindicate the Government by trivializing and ignoring the complaints of the abuse meted out at GIS. We stand firm in our position, the authorities will not make these girls and young women invisible, they will not be allowed to trivialize the pain, shame, nightmares and suffering that still plagues them.
Women in Action (WIA)
Spokesperson: Tempu Nefertari
Email: womeninaction.bb@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/299248284518812
Why would you even ask me that…i have 2 websites, a book and quarterly magazine outling all these crimes against Black humanity from 1600s-present…..seems like ya reaching..,only this morning i had to call things as they are….but you will never see that one…happened elsewhere…
Cuhdear Bajan, we do not know whether or not this man was abuse as a minor, which more than often perpetuates the cycle of abuse and victimization. Take the case of the American Serial Killer John Wayne Gracey, whom had been severally molested as minor, and whom molested and murdered more the 40 kids in the late 70s, and early 80s. Now the statistical data is categorical; most molesters (male or female) were themselves molested at some point in their childhood, which perpetuated the cycle of victimization.
Should we remind them:
ONE BILLION DOLLARS IN STOLEN VAT…could have fixed GIS and given those girls and boys a fighting chance instead of more stigma from nigas,., but was written off and the thieves given a free pass
Another 1/2 MILLION or more that tax cheats REFUSED TO PAY…and was written off… ditto
Another 5 BILLION DOLLARS missing from the economy ….according to the expert
All the money that tiefing Cow and his dangerous ilk were allowed to RoB the treasury, and NIS…to build MULTIPLE mansions and a club house pool area at Apes Hill that the new owners DUG UP…
another 124 MILLION from NIS went to 4 seasons scam…never repaid..
Another bunch of millions went to a golf course in Rockley something to do with the DPP deceased…it’s in the Auditor Genersl’s report that they ALL IGNORE
The HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS unaccounted for and the AUDITIR GENERAL stilll crying for accountability…
I could go on and on about how Black children are robbed generationaly, victimized and disenfrnchised by black faces and their thieving criminal partners..,therefore their future is still DISMAL….92 YEARS LATER..
Has the pensioners received their money yet…..,.shite priorities…
Did i mention the vaccine scam..,that would have SKIMMED another at least 48 MILLION DOLLARS from the treasury had it been successful…..the KIDS at GIS were not even given a second thought..
St. Lucia still have not gotten back their money… 7 million dollars from Mrs Maloney’s crooked husband.,,
Cuhdear Bajan,
And it is interested to note that when we look at psychopathy, we see the hereditary and environmental etiology
at play, and this does not goes without saying that the environmental factors in quite a few of the American serial killers, came about as a resulted of abuse ( sexual, emotional or psychological and neglected), but the literature also shows by an overbearing and dominating mother.
The Green River Killer, psychopathy is attributed to his dominating mother, whom he fantasized of having sex with and murdering for the manner in which she treated him as a child.
Another bunch of millions went to a golf course in Rockley something to do with the DPP deceased…it’s in the Auditor Genersl’s report that they ALL IGNORE
Xxxxxxxx
CORRECTION
IT WAS 2 MILLION TO SOUTHERN GOLF COURSE OTHERWISE KNOWN AS DURANTS GOLF COURSE IN CHRIST CHURCH.
FORMER DPP WIFE WAS THE ACCOUNTANT AND THEN LATER GENERAL MANAGER BEFORE HE DIED.
In all of that…am sure close to or more than 8 BILLION DOLLARS got frittered away by crooks and traitors,.just in the last 25 years alone…has anyone seen or heard any mention of the island”s Black children or the kids from GIS in any of those thefts or give aways..
..all these vicious beasts visit on the majority population is more and more poverty, misery, hunger and bondage to keep them at the very bottom of the socio economic ladder INDEFINITELY…..
Dompey,
And you are stupid.
I am never delusional. Some will be saved quickly and others slowly and yet others not at all.
Whether we spend the money trying to save them with therapists and social workers etc or spend it on policemen, judges and prison officers, WE SHALL SPEND IT!
I prefer to spend it trying to save AND ACTUALLY SAVING those who can be saved.
And YES, there will be savings! For when we save one young person, we also save their future offspring. We then have productive citizens instead of dead weight.
Cuhdear Bajan,
Refer to above.
Now we are being bombarded with silly lies and multiple stupid excuses directed at dumb fowls and those who suffer with short memory syndrome..
We get it. We got receipts
Barbados is a duopoly
Barbados is a slave society and not African
Barbados is Mia’s fault
“Some of these children may require a decade’s worth of psychological /psychiatric care”
This may help
Healing Sexual Trauma
“One of my many siblings worked for years in the UK hospital where Jimmy Saville “volunteered” and took opportunities to abuse children.”
I heard rumours from a couple of school girls about 50 years ago that Gary Glitter had a room in his house that was converted into a sweet shop where he used to invite and groom girls
Jimmy was known to touch up girls who sat on his lap but it was different times back then and people used to laugh about it
I vividly, remembered a Police Officer who is still in the Force as I speak, engaging in an unguarded sexual relationship with a minor in the early 80s, and this Illicit relationship was known to the Top Brass of the Force at the time. However, only way the Top Brass got involved is when the Officer breed the minor, and then they started to inquired as to the minor’s birth certificate, but the inquiry was subsequently pushed under rug.
This minor whom I knew quite well as well as her brothers, was quite rebellious, and very disrespectful to her mother, but by the time the minor begun to rebelled against her mother, her father whom were significantly older than her mother had passed, and I have no doubt that the passing of her father contributed significantly to her rebellion against her mother, and the development of this Illicit relationship with this Police Officer, whom were practically twice her age at the time.
I am not afraid to say that this officer is a friend of mine today, but in retrospect, at that time, I saw nothing wrong with this illicit relationship between this minor and this officer because as a preteen, I thought this was normal ( naivety) but when the fellas ( the officers) started talking about it, I knew then and there that something wasn’t quite right about it.
Baje grow some balls and speak the truth which truth is this your version?Tell us have you or many others on here ever set foot at Barrows or the GIS? I certainly have not.Yet two ladies who have come forward and speak of their experiences down there and i am hearing they are lying.Why? Is it because their story does not fit persons who have never been down there narative? As stated by Artax correctly stated i am not jumping on anyome, s bandwagon.After the enquiry has concluded and the facts are clear i would form an opinion not before.If there was abuse by the staff then they should feel the full weight of the law if not then a lot of persons on here would have egg all over their faces and not for the first time.I gone.
With all the lies fowls are telling and MOST believe government is also telling just as much or more about abuse at GIS….there is a video out there refuting those lies, some apparently have evidence…expect nothing less from useless fowls..and tge pokitical masters.
Never went to Barrows but I did go to the GIS at Dodds every Sunday for six months.
Barrows was next to my village.
Passed it on my way to the Post Office on Benthams. Could get from home to the PO just using cart roads.
Probably went by my navel string on my way there
Hello Barbados
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
Read mrussel carefully.
This illustrate a problem with Barbados.
Mia was MIA (missing in action) for months, but it was only after Mia spoke that mrussel found the ̶̶b̶a̶l̶l̶s̶voice to politely mention Mia was Mia whilst planting a wet kiss on her …. ewww
Fear walks the land.
Mia was not missing, it was widely reported she was on a trip to Washington to prep financial stakeholders, recently she was in Guyana with the HOGs etc.
Here is the question, are we comfortable with a maximum leader? It seems if a transport board bus runs out of diesel we should call Mia.
We should try to move our level of governance to the point we hold all stakeholders in the process accountable.
It is not often that I am wrong (once in the past 3 decades -my estimate) but I will confess that I was wrong about AG. What I thought was a blind squirrel often unable to find his nut is in reality a very clever writer.
He approaches the problem at GIS from a different angle to others and like a skilled surgeon exposes the ugly foundation of GIS .. Take note if the word wandering
“it is absolutely necessary to the safety of this place, that all due care be taken to restrain the wanderings and meetings of Negroes and other slaves at all times, more especially on Saturday nights, Sundays and other holy-days, and their …”
He falls-off the bicycle afterwards, but that paragraph alone is worth the price of admission.
OK Adrian I hear you but also there where parents who gave the child a stern look and that was enough
School discipline was one of the harshest that I remember
Punishment included lashes across the butt or in the hand with leather straps
Standing outside in the hot sun
Kneeling on the wooden floor next to.the teacher sometimes on continuous days until.the teacher was satisfied the punishment fit the crime
School.in those era.produced well known educators some who became PM and head teachers doctors nurses and lawyers even professors at University all throughout the Carribbean
Not going to school for many brought on a silent fear but not going was not an option by the parent or administrators or principal
In today such fear no.longer exist children have the option parents can tell the teacher what to do
Children do not have to show any respect when entering the doors of the educational system
Trying to correct methods which were wrong have gone awry
Measures to correct ways of discipline Children have been.placed in the hands of soci experts leaving parents to learn and listen trying to figure which model is correct to discipline the.child text book or social media
Children today no.longer act and behave as children but have become models of a one size fit all society brand of discipline
Yesterday era of discipline was wrong
Today’s discipline still trying to figure out which way to go.when Jimmy and Mary throws temper tantrums in the grocery store when a favorite product is not handed within their time limit of immediacy
Trying the stern look doesn’t work either
In the eyes of Tron, Mia is a Goddess. When a leader has a stranglehold on its people, it’s advisable for them to use their choice of words with great caution. It is also wise for journalists, lawyers, and members of her cabinet to delay passing comment until Mia speaks. Mia is the state and has the power to do as she pleases.
Michelle M. Russell employs words such as “hopeful” and that she was “grateful” that Mia has finally spoken. These are not the words one would expect from a “social activist”. These are the words of someone who is cowering in fear at making pronouncements which may be misinterpreted by Mia and her adoring flock.
Fear has always walked the land in Barbados and will continue to do so until we dismember the slave code and create an afro-centric constitution construed by the masses. Ask yourself the question: is Mia a fit and proper person to administer the rewriting of our constitution?
“When a leader has a stranglehold on its people,”
The people are starting to push right back, heard a video clip this morning to the effect that if they continue fcuking with them and their children, they will see what the people are really made of…told ya vote beggjng nigas and their imps/fowls and pimps are bad for Black people and potentially for EVERYONE ELSE…
With all these contrived shite awards that clearly went to their heads, they obviously forgot who they are where they came from and HOW MANY know it…,no one with intelligence will sit quietly by and let their families watch them being pushed around, not in this era…2022….this is NOT the 1930s…they will bring the war TO YOU.
Was Mia on a year long trip
The issue was in the public domain for more than a year it was only after many voices were heard speaking about Mia silence that Mia unlocked her lip almost a year later
AC there just ain,t no pleasing you dems at all.You and others was on here vlaiming Ms Mottley was tslking for all the ministers not allowong them to grow and function
Now she has not spoken you snd the regular gloom and doomers want to know where she is and why has she not spoken.Unbelievable! Whst do you dems really want?No wonder you all suffered two 30 to 0 defeats bunch of confused amd angry people.Get over it or you will suffer another thrashing.I gone.
.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/05/25/organisation-says-gis-ward-bouncing-between-solitary-confinement-and-psychiatric-hospital/
From BT
“We remain concerned that without some kind of intervention by the judiciary or the executive…, this child will soon be returned to solitary confinement, and so it’s a revolving door. You take her to solitary confinement which has an impact on her mental health and then you put her back in the Psychiatric Hospital where she gets better and then you put her back on solitary confinement where her mental health again fails,” Hinds lamented
Having people declared insane or passing them through a psychiatric hospital is one of the well known methods of discrediting an individual.
This common tactic was employed against Yugge Farrelin St Vincent
The world has gone mad
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/may/26/medecins-sans-frontieres-apologises-for-using-images-of-child-survivor
The penalty for wandering appears to be harsher than that for raping and fondling young girls.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/05/24/remorse-remand-and-early-guilty-plea-cuts-offenders-prison-sentence-in-half/
Are these sexual predators being labeled by society? Is there a sex offender registry?
It is funny how your thinking changes with the passage of time. My friend who used to go after young girls would explain it by ‘little pilchards got big eyes’. Even then we felt it was wrong, but we did not think of it as harming the girls. Now, I would report him to the police and parents.
You did not think of it as harming the girls????????
How old ARE you? This harm was known shortly after men stopped living in caves!
You have a good point there.
We were very young.
Source: Nation