A GUY'S VIEW

Gun violence continues to be a big challenge for Barbadians.  Although the vast majority of us never have any contact with this kind of conduct, the fear of the unknown always seems to haunt us. 

 

Hardly a week passes without some shooting incident being reported.  If these are examined, it would be clear that there are certain features that almost all of them have in common.

 

The perpetrators and the victims are all black Barbadian male youths.  There is nothing unusual about any of these features.  These all fit the population profile and the age of folly.  Most people who live past their 20s begin to see life through more enlightened eyes and are not usually found to be engaged in this form of self-destructive behaviour.  

That is not to say that more mature persons become saints or are never associated with deviance, but not the kind that is commonly played out on our streets.  Of course, there are some who continue their underworldly behaviour until they die, whenever that is.  It may be that they could be the suppliers of the firearms that are used in shootings and the drugs that spawn such violence, but they know better than to be the ones pulling the triggers.  

 

If it is true that these incidents are turf fights, it is very likely that the youngsters pulling the triggers are toy instruments in the hands of others who are not usually seen.  As long as we have young people with more physical strength than sense, the shooting will go on.

 

Observers may see a sense of inevitability in where we seem to be headed.  Where Barbados is now is where American inner cities were 30 years ago and where some of our neighbours were ten to 20 years ago.  What may be disconcerting is that we seem to be willing to employ the same failed approaches to which they resorted, so we can expect the same result.

 

If there is an alternative, what is it?  This is the question which must dominate the thoughts of those whose responsibility it is to find solutions to our crime problem.  The question is easy, but there is no easy answer.   

 

There is no possibility of taking killers off the scene through the judicial system since we have decided to follow the dictates of international organisations that promote the interests of differently populated countries with their own values.  They have decided that they will not execute their criminals, and neither should we.  Of course, certain American states are confident enough to disagree and do what seems best to them.  

 

In the absence of judicial executions, a victimised family knows that the only “justice” which they may receive would be by self-help.  So, if you shoot my brother, I will shoot you or your brother.  We may not want to admit it, for we never admit to our mistakes, but by deciding to end judicial killing, we leave it to dissatisfied citizens to kill in their own interest.

 

Armchair experts tell us that the death penalty is not a deterrent to killing.  This theory is worth consideration where emotional killings are concerned.  Common sense suggests, however, that this is nonsense where it relates to a person persuading another to take the life of a third person who did nothing to the second person.  Were the death penalty in place, one would be in essence sending a person to his death with such a request.  As it is now, the killer is merely being promoted up the ranks among his peers.

 

The new President of the Philippines has taken a different road to securing his country.  He has chosen to fight fire with fire.  He has indicated his willingness to kill the drug dealers, as he sees them as the source of his country’s criminal ills.  Already, in his short-term, the bodies are piling up.  If this continues, he should have his country under control in a year or two.

 

The United Nations and some other organisations have been critical of him.  He could care less.  He is responsible for his country and he is not willing to do the same ineffective things that have plunged it into its present crisis.  And Malaysia, in admiration, has said that a similar strategy is needed in that country. 

 

Extra-judicial killings are offensive, but only when carried out by the state.  Gang on gang violence that takes multiple lives is not major enough to cause anything more than an American advisory to its citizens to punish the country by not visiting and spending money there.  Persons who matter are not members of criminal gangs so there is no great concern with such killings.

 

The easy cop out is to regard crime as a police matter and leave it to them to solve.  It does not take a rocket scientist to see that this approach is guaranteed to fail.  There are deep social factors that drive the kind of violence we now see and the best efforts of the police will not solve the problem.  The police are called on to deal with the symptoms of the social ills that are manifested in remorseless gun violence.  Addressing symptoms never solves a problem.

 

Yes, there is a place for strong enforcement, but that is but one of the strategies that must be employed to deal with what we are seeing.  A multi-pronged approach is needed.  All relevant parties must work as partners in pursuit of a single objective.  

 

At the core of the approach must be the accepted, irrevocable understanding that all of our people are worthy of the best life Barbados can afford and those that are least well positioned to benefit must be helped into a better position.  We cannot be contented to bury one and temporarily lock up the other person in a dispute.  There must be a way to give a positive mirror image of themselves to every at risk person in Barbados.  The challenge is to find that way.

 

The deep seated nature of our problem is seen in the abuse of our children.  The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.  Women claim this when it is convenient.  If this is true, then they must accept their role in the creation of the social dysfunctionalism which we are now experiencing.  If our children are being abused or neglected, this will be seen later in their lives, but in a more dangerous form.

 

If our children are spending 14 years in school and exiting without the ability to reason, this will be manifested later, in a terribly destructive form.  This is evidenced in their behaviour, even before they leave school.  

 

These are not problems that the police can solve.  The best the police can do is try to contain what is already an out of control situation.  Containment is not correction.  As police efforts reap less success, we run the risk of citizens taking matters into their own hands.