Halt the contest!

Heart to Heart
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, December 13, 2005



Dear Reader,
I'm not sure if you are aware that almost every day for the last few weeks, at least one person is murdered in the inner-city community of Jones Town. What is happening there resembles "ethnic cleansing", and the characteristics are profoundly disturbing.



I happen to know quite a bit about that particular community, mainly through one particular family whom I have known for many years. The situation there is very, very serious, yet I have noticed that there is a virtual news blackout surrounding the ongoing crisis in that area.

While I'm aware that there is an effort to downplay some of the specific incidents of violence for fear of growing national trauma, it seems to me that it is important for the media to report on what is happening in a non-sensationalist and responsible manner, particularly for the protection, and to uphold the rights of our citizens. The Jones Town community is crying out for help, but the rest of us seem too preoccupied, too numb, or too battered to respond.

I'm told that large areas of the community are now depopulated, as children and their parents seek safety - wherever. I don't think that as a community we have come to grips with the fact that Jamaica is steadily becoming a refugee state, as people flee from the escalating murder and mayhem. I have been a witness to this.

Several years ago after the Red Hills Road "Hundred Lane massacre", I stood and watched as one family packed their meagre belongings in a little van, fleeing, but with absolutely no idea where they were going. One story I heard was that in the middle of the night, a mother was forced to flee a downtown community, leaving her small children in the house. She felt that she was the target, not the children, and she could escape by herself, but not with the little ones.

What I find most amazing is that in the midst of the murder and mayhem, our country's political leadership is engrossed in running a political race, seemingly oblivious to what is going on around them. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but with the close to 200 children murdered in the last two years, I have not heard one public statement from any of the leading political contenders, addressing this glaring and deepening crisis.

It is indecent, if not vulgar, for Jamaica to be pursuing a political contest, in the midst of a growing state of anarchy in the country, and I would urge every sincere and well-thinking citizen to call for an immediate halt to all political campaigning until the murder rate is brought under control.

The raw fact is that not one of them deserves one iota of support from any of us under the present circumstances. The three major contenders for leadership all hail from the killing fields of Jamaica, and yet there are those of us who are championing their cause. Under their watch, communities have gone from bad to worse and yet decent, patriotic Jamaicans support their ascendancy to the highest position in our country. Is there something wrong with our psyche?

The conditions in the communities that they represent are generally deplorable. In the case of one of the contenders who has been a member of parliament for at least 30 years, the community doesn't even have toilets, so residents continue to "use" scandal bags or nearby gullies.

I need a simple question to be answered. If someone who has served their constituency as member of parliament for 30 years, and has not been able during all that time to secure something as basic as toilets for the community, how can we expect such a person to run our country?

It is presumptuous for the governing party to expect that after 16 years of the worst government this country has seen, they would get our support for yet another term. The major contenders for leadership seem to be forgetting that they have been a part of this debacle for almost two decades.


Even more pathetic is the fact that I have not heard one single statement about a new vision for the country, and how exactly Jamaica is going to be put back on a path of peace and prosperity.

I have been saying that what Jamaica needs is a "third way". We need, in this time of crisis, what I call an "interim rescue and rehabilitation government". I have been calling for sincere patriots, both here and abroad, to make themselves available for leadership, and step up to the plate to clean up this mess.

I wouldn't be so angry if I heard a genuine call for all of us, regardless of party, colour or creed, to come together in the country's national interest. What I see, instead, is a political contest that is consuming valuable media time and space, and diverting and distracting the rest of us from the level of crisis management needed to pull our country back from the brink of disaster.

With love.
bab2609@yahoo.com
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Flayva Esq.: Wow, these proposals are frightening.
Even naturalized citizens aren't safe under certain circumstances. I'll write a letter to my congressman.