by Adrian Gibson
First appeared in The Tribune under the byline, Young Man's View here…
Send Adrian e-mail: ajbahama@hotmail.com
With our country on the fast track to another record-setting year for murders, it is obvious that crime has gripped our society in a most undesirable way. Today, we’re at the point where young men are boldly and openly shooting each other in the day, with no regard for bystanders or caught.
It is obvious that some Bahamians have developed an American influenced outlook on violent crime, seemingly accepting it as an everyday occurrence. Indeed, we all need to become more involved in preventing vicious crimes. Bahamians have apparently become so tolerant of the idea that we must co-exist with a sadistic criminal constituent that of us are now seeing and hearing arguments escalate but failing to contact the police before tempers get so out of control that someone gets hurt or killed. This is wrong and reflects the emergent frame of mind that many Bahamians (particularly Nassauvians) are becoming indifferent to violence afflicting their neighborhoods, almost mirroring the attitudes of residents of antagonistic neighborhoods such as Compton, California, where gang activity reigns supreme.
Before the drug boom, the Bahamas was a rather peaceful society, and although there were incidents of petty crime (eg theft), there was hardly ever any occurrences of the vile, heinous acts we hear about almost on a daily basis.
We as Bahamians must find more effective ways to resolve personal conflicts. The use of a knife or a gun to cause harm or take people’s lives is a spineless, wretched approach to conflict resolution. In order to resolve our conflicts, we must learn to value our brains and our mouths. And, if all else fails, when there is any sign of unrestrained trouble… run and live to see another day! The problem with many of our youths today is just that, instead of running away from trouble, they run towards it, many times losing their lives or taking the life of someone else.
As I watched the video of the young man shot at the Chinese restaurant and the two youngsters who were shot a few days ago, one notes that far too many Bahamian young men and woman were murdered on the streets and cut down in the prime of their lives. In recent years, far too many youngsters contributed to the ever-increasing prison population instead of the upward mobility of Bahamian society.
It is high time that we learn to value the lives of others and begin to learn the worth of being our brothers’ keepers. When youngsters resort to outrageous slayings and burning people, kidnapping, stuffing people in the back trunks of vehicles and so on, we must really begin to assess the sociology and psychology of our society. From our homes to our classrooms, we must address the social issues confronting our society or bear witness the social collapse of Bahamian society.
As it relates to crime in the inner-city, the urban renewal programme has failed. Violent crime has skyrocketed since the introduction of urban renewal, and although the intent of the architect of the programme – Prime Minister Perry Christie – is commendable, he must awaken to the sad reality that this poorly-funded initiative has not strengthened the social fabric of our society nor has it led to the self-development and socialisation of a large percentage youths in the inner-city.
March 1, 2014
