By Raffique Shah
January 06, 2008
I am not surprised that the Express has taken the initiative to intervene in the fight against the crime tsunami that threatens to destroy our beloved country. It’s not the first time that a call has been made for a government to declare a limited state of emergency to help deal with the problem. A few years ago, a government-appointed committee headed by Ken Gordon and including some very experienced and knowledgeable persons, made a similar recommendation as part of a “package” of measures it proposed. Other organisations and individuals, your humble scribe among them, also suggested as much.
No right-thinking person or organisation would call for such a draconian imposition unless a feeling of helplessness, not to add hopelessness, engulfs them.
For those of us who have lived through emergencies in 1970 and 1990 we know the perils of the arbitrary powers of arrest and detention it places in the hands of the security forces, and by extension, the Government. Its abuse can be used to settle political scores and allow lawless lawmen (yes, you read right) to make citizens’ lives hell, much the way the criminals now do. So when people, and institutions like the Express, see salvation in the suspension of their constitutional rights, it’s a cry of utter desperation.
The Government has repeatedly rejected the emergency option on two bases. Firstly, it claims that its law enforcement agencies are capable of delivering us from all evil. This assurance has been given, repeatedly I should add, over the past three or four years. Instead of seeing a return to the paradise this country once was, citizens have been subjected to a rapid descent into what can only be described as Dante’s Hell. Our crime fighters have failed to stem the bloodletting. Instead, the criminals are the ones in control. And between these two forces that are not necessarily exclusive to each other, we the citizens have already lost many of our rights.
Let’s not mince matters here. Robberies are more daring, committed in broad daylight in crowded shopping districts. Gunmen are “taking out” their victims in the presence of witnesses, even pausing to perform the coup de grace, such is their confidence they would not be caught. To compound the plight of the besieged masses, most police stations are “closed for business” at nightfall, as one senior citizen learned, much to his dismay. I was in the military for six years, and I don’t know of one army camp anywhere in the world that has closing hours.
With the Police Service in such disarray, almost like a battered army in hasty retreat, people have imposed curfews on themselves, at times in entire communities. We can no longer enjoy the outdoors at any hour we choose, normally a year-round benefit for those who live in the tropics, and something for which tourists from colder climes pay big bucks to enjoy. This brings me to Government’s second reason for not wanting to use emergency powers to deal with crime. It would scare investors and visitors, causing us to lose much revenue, they argue.
Crap, I say. Already, big foreign corporations that operate here spend huge sums of money on private security for their senior executives, their offices, and in the case of oil and gas, at their installations.
Private security, which in many instances amounts to no security, is now a billion-dollar business. Add to that the high-crime warnings many governments in countries where tourists come from, or whose corporations do business in Trinidad and Tobago, have permanently posted on websites. We are right there in the “dangerous” rankings with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and a few other crazy countries.
Shame of shames, in New York last year there were fewer than 500 murders to our 400. That’s a city with almost ten times our population. And bet your Yankee dollar the police there would have brought to justice at least 50 per cent of the perpetrators. Here, 90 per cent of those who commit heinous crimes are never caught. Of the few who are charged, 90 per cent walk free. That brings us to an almost zero-level conviction rate. Only the very foolish in the criminal world end up doing time.
Having outlined the negative impact crime has had on the country, I hasten to add that if the UNC were in power we would have had to add to the criminal pool, not expect solutions. As prime minister, Basdeo Panday all but gave up when he temporarily took on the National Security portfolio. Given the composition of its upper ranks, the UNC’s anti-crime creed must be set-a-thief-to-catch-a-thief. In fact, the opposition party can easily straddle both sides of the crime fence. If the guilty among them had consciences, they’d never open their mouths-except to beg God for forgiveness.
In calling for emergency measures, the Express and others need to understand that ours is not merely a crime problem. Lawlessness in this country is a people problem of epidemic proportions. We all need to look into the mirror before we don our combat gear. More on this subject next week.
http://www.trinicenter.com/Raffique/2008/Jan/
Does Rafique understand the full implications of a State of Emergency? The government is 100% correct in their stance – anyone who disagrees does not comprehend what that means. The PNM has learned from their mistake when they called a limited State of Emergency when they put the house speaker under arrest (and were quick to fix it by calling elections, causing everyone to forget that debacle).
A state of emergency will devastate the economy. Calling for such in this situation is asking for the equivelant of a military state.
Sometimes, I get this nagging feeling in my gut that the people who really ought to be wishing our country well and working to make it better are secretly wishing for its destruction to make a point that they are or were right about something. A curfew in a limited, crime-prone area is one thing. Fining parents, and jailing them for the misdeeds of their under-eighteen children is another ante-upped aspect of crime fighting. Both of these could work in TnT without the total disruption that a state of emergency will bring.
Do we want the police to shooot first and ask questions later, even of dead people? A state of emergency can bring that on. Britain executed a young Brazilian during such a period following the train bombings two years ago. The officers were charged with unlawful killing.
Do we want the town and all businesses shut down by 6.00 or 8.00 PM? A state of emergency could bring that on. In the CArnival season, that would be disaster squared and result in extreme anger against the people in power.
Do we have jail space to hold those who would be rounded up for breaking the restrictions of a state of emergency? Would we rent jail space from neighbouring countries? How many policemen /army patrols would it take to keep the lawbreakers at the bottom of the society in check? And what of the law breakers at the to of the society, the ones who never follow any rules because they feel exempted by skin colour, wealth or associations? Who will keep them in check? How will we guarantee evacuating all the people who need to get home from work by the time the curfew goes into effect? What will we do with the backlog of people at City-gate when the curfew begins and the busses are not running?
The Express and pontificators of States of Emergency should ponder on these specifics. The devil is always in the details.
That is why strategic planning is an essential part of every major project.If we put our best engineering minds together in TnT we would still be hard-pressed to evacuate Port-of-Spain and San Fernando every week day by six PM. The infrasrtructure is not there. The infracstructure for a state of emergency, where law abiding people go about their lawful business, is not there.
Perhaps we should begin by making it mandatory that every person carry his/her national ID with them at all times. Install computers in all police and army vehicles that could read the cards, so that if someone is stopped, info on him/her would be easily available.
The hole nation needs to start thinking about law abiding behaviours. The criminal element may be bigger than we want to admit.
We need to ask ourselves if wwe would help hide a criminal in the family, from the police. The answer to that question tells a lot about our criminal state of country and people.
Hello “Raf” how are you doing and the family?
Trust me Raf…this year 2008 is going to be a great year for the TNT Republic.
The declaration of a State of “Emerge ” and Then “We Go see” what will happen is not really the best option to win the war on crime in TNT.
We know you and I know you personally: You love TNT and those who do not know that you love TNT must be the Trinis Expatriates who “fled ” the country as economic refugees for those so called” developed countries” who are suffering from ,”Americanitis,Canafooly and Englandnitis” and they cannot understand as to why some people are calling for a State of Emergency.
The call for a State of Emergency,folks,represent to my humble understand,a the concerned minds of TNT Republicans who are deeply concerned and alarmed at the heinous acts of vicious criminals
( who have no decency and no hounour whatsoever) against the Citizens and Legal Residents of TNT.
They call for the State of Emergency because they care and not because they wish any evil thing upon TNT but because they are frustrated and fed up with the actions of the criminals and the actions of those who are paid and entrusted with the TASK of getting rid of these brute beasts off the streets of TNT.
I have written several letters to the Express and written several comments to the Express pleading my case that I CAN WITH MY PLAN ( WITHIN THE CURRENT LAWS AND CONSTITUTION OF TNT AND AT LOW COST) WIN THE WAR ON CRIME AND CRIMINALS IN TNT IN EIGHTEEN MONTHS.
I ALSO OFFERED MY PLAN TO END TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN TNT IN TWO YEARS AND AT LOW COST.
Your express fellow did not think it fit to publish and when I tried to approach the Attorney-general and other Government officials in Law Enforcement their lackeys who seem to revel in blocking TNT Republicans from seeing the officials wanted me to give them my plans so that they could steal them hence I simply left it alone and hoped that one day if the problem persists I shall have an opportunity to present my plan to TNT Republicans who are wise enough to understand the plan and implement them positively.
Until them we watch in horror as I our once safe and secure TNT goes down hill towards anarchy ?
I remain,the Fearless TNT Republican.
Correction ,please,folks!
The call for a State of Emergency,folks,represent to my humble understanding,THE CONCERNED MINDS of TNT Republicans who are deeply concerned and alarmed at the heinous acts of vicious criminals
( who have no decency and no hounour whatsoever) against the Citizens and Legal Residents of TNT.
They call for the State of Emergency because they care and not because they wish any evil thing upon TNT but because they are frustrated and fed up with the actions of the criminals and the actions of those who are paid and entrusted with the TASK of getting rid of these brute beasts off the streets of TNT.
By the way Raf you know me very well but you will not be able to connect the dots but when you figure out who I am you know I can do it and I mean what I have said.
Under normal circumstances, I would support a limited state of emergency but there is nothing in place to sustain such an approach. Criminals will be back on the streets in the wink of an eye. There was a time when officers went on weekend raids, rounded up sometimes over a hundred persons and by the following week they were back out on bail.
I do support covert operations. It appears that prostitution is big business here with many pornographic sites promoting Mucurapo and Port of Spain as “destinations of promise” (don’t shoot the messenger, my interest was purely academic). Instead of importing male officers from the UK and elsewhere, perhaps, foreign female officers may do a better job of infiltrating the inderworld.
If Trinidad and Tobago is to become a 1st world developed country as envisioned by the Prime Minister, the major investment today has to be in upgrading the crime fighting capabilities of Law Enforcement. And that does not require imposition of a state of emergency. Even Newspaper Editors can become irrational in their analysis of situations and conditions that strikes at the core of the security fears of citizens. What they have to realize is that, it is always much easier to deal with the criminal excesses of the individual public, than it is to deal with the criminal excesses of the state. And State of Emergencies in Nations politically architectured like T&T, can inevitably lead to criminal excesses from state agencies.
T&T need to take a couple of billion from the burgeoning oil revenues and apply it to technological and personnel upgrading of Law Enforcement. Put armed policemen on every street corner if necessary. Increase the mobility capabilites of the force so that at every given instant resources are minutes away from potential points of conflagration. The capabilty of Law Enforcement have to be upgraded to the point where they are able to lock down areas within the radius of developing incidents, and conduct house to house inquiry if that is necessary to apprehend perpetrators.
One of the major obstacles to getting a grip on the situation is the fact that large sectors of the politically active, rather than advancing coherent and well thought out proposals to fight crime, resort to inferring a link between the government and those who might be committing crimes. The innuendos that the Government can stop crime but does not wish to, require no great pondering to decipher the implied direction of the argument. Crime is the concern of all law abiding citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, including those in Public Office. The Government stands to gain more from its reduction than its escalation. But then again, common sense is not as widely distributed in our twin island republic as we sometimes believe it is.
More on Crime and States of Emergencies:
The police lock dowwn a major section of a highway, and conduct car searches. Response: Public Outrage, “I have to get home yes, what happen to all yuh”?
A woman is raped and murdered by her husband/lover: Anger for a day, but not seen as a major problem, although it IS
Gang shoot-out in Laventille or Central-Not my problem, I live in Arima.Crime has its eople, oui.
A man ses another’s car being broken into. He says nothing, “They might have a gun, yes, then is my rear end in de fire”
People see two men running from the police. They cheer the men on. They are not on the side of the police, since the crime was not against them.
A policeman reports illegal activity in his community. Other officers respond. neighbours see him as a traitor, and beat him up, among those beating him up was his own relatives.
Then there was the notorious case of two stowaways at Point Lisas, our major port of import and export for minerals and metals, the police respond. Workers around the culprits give them their safety vests and helmets to help them hide. The illegal immigrant from Israel was being helped in the Arouca Hihlands to hide, and he had as stolen immigration stamp.How did he get it?He was spirited out of the island quickly, by people acting on behalf of the iSRAELI GOVERNMENT. A woman from Holland is arrested for drug smuggling, the abbot of Mt. St. Benedict offers to keep her there, rather than in jail-suggesting that a Dutchwoman should not be in jail in a Caribbean country.Fortunately, the Chief of Police reminded him that this was a police matter, not a matter of religion.
When the crime concerns us, like the prison escapees in July, all kind of people offer to help them get to Venezuela. Was there a strong condemnatory editorial from any of the newspapers?
Unless every citizen determines that crime suppression is our major business, even fifteen thousand full time officers cannot help us. We have to be proactive. Men are criminals when they employ the services of a foreign prostitute smuggled into the Santa Maria hotel. We are criminals when we bring in guns in fishing boats to sell to criminals. We are criminals when we import large numbers of contraband material, and make money at the expense of the state. Compared to all of this, gang wars in Laventille, and gangs of bandits living in the woods in central, or terrorising Caura picnicers are small aspects of a criminal society. I first wrote about this in an article in the Express in 1985. Nothing much has changed, except that the third generation of criminal wannabees have come of age.And another generation has retiredand do not go out into the steets, or walk downtown on Frederick Street.
I have said before on another airwaives that eventhou martin joseph is arragant and cannot communicate with the average man on the street he should not be totally blame for the frostration as far as crime prevention is concern the prime minister and most if not all his party members know of his attitude I am not trying to attack him I am pointing out why policy dont work for some/most people your policy is an extention of you/your thoughts and the in his appointment knew this ok the must now do the honorable thing and take the ministry from martin joseph for at lease 7 months this is whatI think should be done 1.Mr Manning Minister of National security 2.there are a number of units that is a waist of time in the police service scrap them 3.create an internal investigation unit/bereau to deal with police/other services corruption 4.let martin joseph be your understudy do not move him 5.victamisation must stop party members must not be allowed to open or with praise after an election be rewarded for victamising other party members/constituents 6.It is a common thing to go to a barbershop in the us and maybe an undercover police officer works there or a bus driver or a priest etc. 7.as acandidate appeasement should be tollerated to thogs but as a minister this should not be accepted 8. Let the constituency group do all your appeasement as far as thogs is concern
line 7 should read the prime minister knew of him therfore he should do the honorable thing and accept the ministry of national security
I am sure that we all agree that the war on crime in a national one, and should be a collaboration of minds, spirit and resources. It should entail a coming together of efforts from all quarters of society, be it govenment, opposition, NGO’s and private citizens.
A state of emergency may well aggravate tensions currently being experienced by many sectors of the society, and can not be viewed as an option, let alone a solution, unless, like someone mentioned, there is something put in place, for the aftermath.
Having said this, it should be fully understood that leadership in implementing crime fighting measures and activities should come from the custodians of the nation, i.e. the Government. They should adopt an objective outlook (sometimes very hard to do) and be able to accept constructive criticism (also very hard to do). They also have to be able to accept assistance where offered, and be able to give and take, where required.
A reconciliatory attitude is therefore very necessary in this fight, and……not telling anyone, be it the biggest critiques, earstwhile jackasses, or national embarrassments to “shut up” on the issue of crime.
Listen this thing is not about pnm/unc/cop this is bigger than them everybody knows that the pnm is a waist of time so before they set us up for dead so come next election we would fall short of by numbers we need these people alive so they can vote come on let us put our heads together and get rid of this demon 1.no to state of emergrncy that would only put us all in prison and as they does say who would gaurd the gaurds,2. the police service needs an overhaul ask the famous asp from south/central he knows better than us he is with them 3.make that asp who did not take up his appointment in south make him commissioner of police there is no need to leave paul in office another year
one more thing the when a citizen goes to the station to make a report he/she is treated like or worst than a criminal that must STOP how could you want the public to get involve when you treat them like they are the ones who commit the crime then we might as well do what ramesh said if we legal guns use it in self defense
I also think martin joseph needs 4 weeks with watkins an associates him and 3 other persons if the group gets bigger he would not pay attention and I know watkins is good because I was in his programme
in 1990 during the state of emergency who do you think give some people elegal food stuff among other things IT WAS THE POLICE OFFICERS so who do you think would or could commit crimes free ask the asp from south/central
Question for all of you:
Whihc should take priority,
The WAR on CRIME or the War on ABJECT AND MURDEROUS RACIALISM IN TNT ?
I submit you cannot win the war on crime unless you win the WAR AGAINST ABJECT AND MURDEROUS RACIALISM.
IGNORE IT act as if it does not exist or whatever your intllectual and hypocritical mind rape and masturbation of your intellect and burning of your conscience….it is The Reality of the day and hour and right now….abject and murderous racialism in TNT.
You are invited to fight it or go away and yap about this and that in high sounding language and meanwhile the Racialism goes on!
Ladies and Gentlemen Please,CEASE FIRE against each other and let us together attack the beast of Racialism and kill the beast please!
You all are way better educated than I am and way better writers than I am so come now let us talk and debate and reason together as one against the BEAST OF RACIALISM with a view to destroying this vicious beast which has ( as you all know) robbed us of the best possible minds from the African,the White,The Syrian,The Chinese and Portuguese Communities representing us in Parliament and conducting the affairs of our great TNT….instead the Beast racialism has saddled us with some of the most ” doltish” idiots as representatives on both sides of the isle!
Some of them ” doltish” for years instead of days!
They squander of resources and give their followers every reason to be against other TNT Citizens instead of giving their followers every reason to stand for something positive like ” CHANGING THE EVIL RACIALISM WHICH CORRUPTS OUR POLITICS AND EVERY ASPECT OF OUR DAILY LIVES!
Come on people are we so blind as not to see this?
Are we so dumb as not know that we MUST do something to eradicate this racial beast or else our children and grand children will suffer under the beast?
All I can say is please,people do something NOW and do not wait on members or Parliament because it is not in their self interest to change the system after all it got them their seat!
The Fearless TNT Republican.
Good Afternoon:
Mrs. /Ms Edwards & Mr. Daniels, I agree with you both totally, excellent points. I have always held the view, that crime is a people problem (Individuals and Government). If we all support each other and work together collectively we will WIN the crime war. What ever happened to the village raising the child, when a person saw a child doing wrong, corrected that child? What happened to taking personal responsibility for your actions? Our people (friends, family…etc) commit crime and we give them a PASS (turn the other way) NO ONE WANTS TO GET INVOLVED!!! We all know the Government (Security Services) is lacking. Better training, standards, tools and equipment, will help. Our laws are old and inadequate. Why is a police officer not a police officer when he/she is off duty? They should have the same power and authority to make an arrest and to protect the public 24/7. They should ALL be issued and equipped with fire arms for as long as they are employed. It should be a very serious crime for assaulting a police officer, on or off duty. The best police officer/detective cannot solve every crime without the help of the public. It’s a two-way street, the Government and the public MUST work together on this issue or TNT will continue to slip deeper and deeper in this CRISIS. Please note, the term GOVERNMENT, does not ONLY mean PNM. ALL political parties, activist and members are the GOVERNMENT. Private agendas, capitalism, and selfishness is hindering the GOVERNment from doing their part and FEAR, and so called “LOVE”, is hindering the public from doing theirs. I used the term “LOVE” very loosely. We don’t punish or discipline our kids because of “LOVE”, we don’t report or reprimand our friends, family, or partners, when they do wrong, because of “LOVE” But I will tell you this, LOVE is NOT an ENABLER. It should never be used to enable one another to do wrong; LOVE should be used to be honest, truthful, trustworthy, and righteous. It is time for the people of Trinidad & Tobago to renew their MINDS and way of thinking.
“MY people perish, because of a lack of understanding (knowledge)”
Mr or Ms. Alfred:
I praise God that another right thinking peson in TnT has spoken. In July 2007, I am riding in the back seat of my sister’s car, the young people upfront are driving. A lone man in his car is watching TV while he drives along theChurchill-Roosevelt Highway. Without hesitation, I dial 999 and report it, the make of car, the color, part licence plate and direction h was going.
My niece was of the opinion that the police would not bother. I pointed out that I had a civic duty to report this. She stared aat me wide eyed for a minute, then said “OK”
Whether the police responded to it or not, I do not know. Maybe he was a statistic that we read of later on, but my conscience was clear.I did the right thing.
I hope many other people would do so, realizing that crime is a people problem, for all the people.It is not a race problem as some would have us believe.
Question for all of you:
WHICH SHOULD TAKE PRIORITY ?
The WAR on CRIME or
THE War on ABJECT AND MURDEROUS RACIALISM IN TNT ?
I submit to you all that we CANNOT WIN THE WAR ON CRIME OR EVEN MAKE A MEASURABLE DENT IN THE ARMOUR OF CRIME UNLESS WE FIRST WIN THE WAR ON AND MURDEROUS RACIALISM IN TNT.
I double dare you all to prove me wrong yesterday,today and in the near or far future.
I do suggest that none of you dare not even think to even try because you shall be proven wrong by your very own conscience.
IGNORE IT act as if it does not exist or whatever your intellectual and hypocritical mind rape and masturbation of your intellect and burning of your conscience forces you to do or say or even think…..it still shall be the REALITY OF THE NOW,the day, and hour.
because WE ALL KNOW IN OUR HEARTS AND MIND THAT abject and murderous racialism in TNT IS THE SILENT KILLER AND MURDERER OF ALL EFFORTS AGAINST CRIME.
You are invited to fight it or go away and yap about this and that in high sounding phrases meanwhile the Abject and murderous Racialism goes on!
Ladies and Gentlemen Please,CEASE FIRE against each other and let us, together, attack the beast of Racialism and kill the beast, please!
You all are way better educated than I am and way better writers than I am so come now let us talk and debate and reason together as one against the BEAST OF RACIALISM with a view to destroying this vicious beast which has ( as you all know) robbed us of the best possible minds from the African,the White,The Syrian,The Chinese, and Portuguese Communities representing us in Parliament and conducting the affairs of our great TNT….instead the Beast of murderous and abject racialism has saddled us with some of the most
” doltish” idiots as representatives on both sides of the isle!
Some of them ” doltish” for years instead of days!
They squander of resources and give their followers every reason to be against other TNT Citizens because of their skillful ( the only skills some of them have besides their lying and “thieving” and spiting and victimizing decent people skills )manipulation of racial differences by way of spreading fear and distrust and racial hatred between the races instead of giving their followers every reason to stand for something positive like ” ERADICATING THE EVIL,ABJECT,AND MURDEROUS RACIALISM WHICH CORRUPTS OUR POLITICS AND EVERY ASPECT OF OUR DAILY LIVES!
Come on people are we so blind as not to see this?
Are we so dumb as not know that we MUST do something to eradicate this MURDEROUS racial beast or else our children and grand children will suffer under the beast?
All I can say is please,people do something NOW and do not wait on Members or Parliament because it is not in their “SLEFISH “self interest to change the system after all it got them their seat!
The Fearless TNT Republican.
Your dare is ludicrous. You are daring people to prove you wrong about an opinion you pull like a six gun out of your butt. An ability to write well and academic training are not substantive evidence of wisdom. But neither is self grandeur and personal descriptive superlatives.
It is more than sophomoric to call for a war on attitudes and behaviours that are products of social and other cultural nurturings. What are you going to do? Aim cannons at the heads of those you determine to be racist with a view of pulverizing the offensive mindset from their psyche. Your rant against the “evil, abject and murderous racialism which corrupts our politics and every aspect of our daily lives” reeks of hypocrisy when with the same breath you praise and exalt the sources from which those social sores originated. You sound like someone egotistically playing with himself unaware that it is within the public purview.
My children and grand children, my family, my brothers and sisters, we are all beneficiaries of a familial culture that recognizes that racial prejudice is the last refuge of rascals and those very small inside and seeking ego inflation. We also are aware that racist are mostly those who automatically go one place to find examples of negativity. They might try to conceal this by cunning and artful subterfuge, but postulations that duttiness only exist in “their” backyard is is corroborative evidence of a mindset so deceased by prejudice that it fails to pay heed to its own infection. Racial hatred is mostly proliferated by those ignorant of the positive history of others, and construct all cerebral formulations from this position of ignorance. Examination of their analysis of issues and their tendency to go to one continent for examples are prime symptoms of the mental disability.
Again, does the description “The Fearless TNT Republican” indicate that you wear a costume and cape? Just curious, that’s all.
Y’all use a lot of big words and metaphors that I don’t understand and/or never used. I have to pull the dictionary. (Smile) However, I’ll keep it simple. I do NOT see racism in gang violence, unless you are so intelligent to break down a gang member being racist against another gang, or a street corner being racist against another corner, or a project/planning being racist against another!! I do NOT see racism when a man kills his wife/girlfriend, or friends getting into an argument and killing each other. Crime is about PEOPLE; African, Caucasian, Indian, Asian, Jew, Arab,& Others. What are the statistics of black on black crime, Indian on Indian crime, Black on Indian, Indian on Black, etc…? You are right about the “dotish” politicians that spread hate and act childish, but it is still an individual choice to commit a crime and most people that commit crimes do it for their own personal greed, lust, envy, hate, fear, and anger. Remember, ALL men will be judged by their works/deeds, not by the color of their skin, nationality, or race. So, you can fly the cape of RACISM all you want, it still boils down to PEOPLE need to change and renew their MIND SET.
P.S. It’s Mr. (For Ms. Edwards)
Thanks very much for your reply and it is all great!
It is a pityy that you totally ignore the subject and wanderered off down the part of “personal attack” instead of addressing the subject whcih puts the querstion to you ( in your face):
WHICH SHOULD TAKE PRIORITY ? THE WAR ON RACIALISM OR THE WAR ON CRIME ?
Surely some attempts have been made to ” break it down into ” the “Intellectual masturbation and rape of common sense ” but that “mess does not fly” becausse RACIALISM is the direct cause of the massive increase in violent CRIME and Crime in general in TNT.
The reason there is no viable solutions coming from the Government ( which to my sincere belief is the Sum total of the Minoirtyy Members of Parliament and the Majority Members of Parliament )and the ” intellectuals” in TNT is simply because YOU all have missed the mark….it is RACILISM STUPID!
tHAT PHRASE WAS NOT MEANT TO CALL YOU STUPID BUT TO EMPHASIZE that in the realm of the CAUSE of the massive Increase in Crime in TNT you are basically STUPID…I say again,” It is racialism stupid!”
Wake up and check it out first before you condemn it …imagine you were given $3,ooo,ooo.000 Euros to prove what I have submitted…dig down inside your mind and move past the anger and the bobast and behold you will probably prove me right in one night of research.
I remain,like the Target,the fearless TNT Republican
Join the war on RaciaLISM ( WHICH IS THE BACKBONE OF ALL ELECTED MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT…YUH GO DOUBT THAT NOW ?) and we can togeteher defeat Crime.
When faced with apparently unsurmountable problems, well intentioned and thoughtful people can backslide in barbaric ways. In Rome, AD 70, people under siege, roasted and ate their smallest children. The thinking was apparently that if the majority survive, they would have more children, and the littlest ones were the most vulnerable anyway. In Afghanistn, at the start of the Middle East War of Bush 11, an Afghani man sold one of his four boys. When interviewed as to why he would do such a thing, he responded that the new family could provide for the boy, and that the remaining three had a better chance because of one less to feed. It made all the sense in the world, although I could not see myself doing that. I have never been hungry, praise God.
Now the Prime Minister seems to be heeding those clamouring for something to be done about crime, and has stated that hanging would be resumed. It is a barbaric step backwards, and I said so in writing when Panday had declared on the BBC that “Hanging Never Left Us.”He proceeded to demonstrate that with the Chadee Nine- which made us worldfamous in a macabre sort of way.
No one has ever found that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime, except for the person hanged, and as the Justice/Innocence Project(USA) has demonstrated in the US so often, that the death penalty is on hold in many states, innocent people get convicted in a fury of “hang them high” and the death penalty is final, when once it is carried out.
So, are we, the prosperous gem of the Caribbean sliding back into barbarity? If we re-impose the death penalty, that’s what we are saying. Murderers are the scum of the earth. It takes a certain disrespect for human life as a whole, to kill someone else, whether it is in a fit of anger and rage, or pre-mditated.
War and state executions are murders by the state, because it has the power to do so. Which does not seem to me to be much different from the young hoodlum in Laventille shooting someone, a crazy man in San Fernando cemetery killing someone making a short-cut there, or the angry husband in Central chopping his wife to death and walking away wiping the blade on his pants. These are all murders, all representative of the contempt for human life, by lowlifes. Does the state want to join that gang?.
What we need to do as a nation, is to begin to turn these would be murderers into useful citizens from infancy. Provide our people with enough to eat, good schooling and the real possibility of a meaningful job on which to raise a family. Educate our women to be independent, and to value themselves highly so that we do not fall for the first man that could buy us a doubles. Educate men to value women as partners in life, not whipping posts, and thus create a society more liveable for everyone.
Now what should the Prime Minister do with all the ones already on Death Row? Build a new prison, with a farm attached, not that little plot Piarco used to have long ago. Let them grow food for the nation. Most criminals may never have had a sense of being a useful peson. We could start there. invest in monitored ankle braelets so that they cannot get away from supervision. Restriit children from visiting in prisons. The evidence does not show that they learn anything there. Identify the families of prisoners/murderers and do some social intervention that would save lives, and God would continue to bless our nation.
Put any of them to death, and we inherit their sins, the way we did with the Chadee Nine. The number of murders have skyrocketed since 1999. That was a sign that we took a wrong turn in the road to nationhood.We need to stop and think, before killing anyone else.