Melville CookeIf life was a ting
Dat money coulda buy
De rich woulda live
An de poor woulda die
Jamaican saying
THERE IS something to protest in Brian Williamson's murder, something that concerns us all and not simply J-FLAG and its ass-sociates.
'Gays Silent', THE STAR said last Tuesday, reporting that a man had pleaded guilty to the former J-FLAG head's murder in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's court. In his statement, the man said he and an accomplice had asked Williamson for $3,000 to start a business but he offered them only $400, hence the killing. The silence came from the wind being taken out of J-FLAG's sails that it was a hate crime.
It is incredibly obscene that a human being should be killed for not 'helping' out another with $3,000. That, to put it in perspective, is slightly less than 30 pounds sterling, just about US$50, and close to Can$65, by the current exchange rates.
THE VALUE
By my current consumption patterns, that $3000 translates to 10 upgraded fish sandwich combos from Island Grill or gas for around town driving for two weeks or three trips to the movies.
In fact, considering that the murder was committed by two persons, those currency and consumption conversions can be halved, since it would work out to $1,500 per person.
I know that life is rather cheap in this country, what with occasional reports of persons being killed as a result of quarrels over paltry sums of money and even a 'diss'. The difference in this case, what really galls me, is that the man was murdered because he did not give in to a request for his own money.
It was not a straight up robbery, in which someone more than likely a stranger sticks up someone else outright. It was a case of someone asking another for help, someone who they felt close enough to expect that the assistance be given and killing them when it was not forthcoming.
I fail to understand the mentality of quite a few beggars I have encountered, that the person they are asking for something owes it to them. One that sticks out happened in a supermarket parking lot, when a man rode up on his bicycle, scowled and said "lef suppen wid me no". I said "no Iyah" and he looked in the distance and said "dats why man haffi rob some a oonu". To that I gently asked "when?" and he rode off.
'FEEDING TREE' MENTALITY
What is a person to do in a situation where if you help someone once they develop a 'feeding tree' mentality, expecting that every time they shake money will come wafting to the ground (paper, of course, coins are just not on) and, when the dry season comes, decide that the tree is being mean and decide to cut it down? Is it not better that you do not help at all, do not have sympathy on the supposed 'suffara', help no one at all and go live in a gated community or have some security guard company's warning posted on your gate?
It is also very difficult to attempt to help someone, yet have the sneaking suspicion that they despise you even when they are taking all that they can from you, in cash, kind and snippets of your life which they will redistribute as gossip when they have no further use for you or even while they are still expecting more 'tings'. I have found this to be often the case, from firsthand experience as well as from tales of woe I have heard form others.
It is painfully ironic, too, that as the value of life sinks below a couple fish sandwiches or a trip or two to the movies to see a forgettable flick, funerals are getting more elaborate and coffins more expensive. I mean, there are designer ones that come complete with a picture of the recently departed. Those should not be buried, they should be leaned up in the house and admired.
Body optional, of course.
Peter Tosh was slaughtered in much the same manner, by someone who he had helped and who wanted more assistance. The Stepping Razor may just have had some foresight into his demise, or just a basic understanding of how 'eart run', because, as he sang:
That's what friends will do
Peter Tosh
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
