Garth Rattray MURDER IS the ultimate form of disrespect. It demonstrates an absolute lack of respect for life, for country and for self.
I got a spooky feeling when I first heard one colloquial term for killing someone it is referred to as making a duppy. So I guess that October 2004 holds the all-time record for making the most duppies.
The disturbing thing is that there is nothing to stop us from breaking our own record. Jamaica routinely racks up two-digit murder figures every week. One week ago the total number of killings for the year was an astounding 1,230. By the time this is published we can project a new total of about 1,255.
ACCUSTOMED TO MURDER
Murder statistics tend to be viewed with some amount of detachment (perhaps as a safety mechanism) so let me try to put the slaughter into perspective. If the obituaries of all the people murdered since the start of the year were put into one edition of The Gleaner they would occupy about 34 pages.
If the bodies of the people murdered this year alone were placed end to end, they would stretch for about 2.3 kilometres. The cumulative weight of those murdered is about 90,000 Kg (the weight of 78 Toyota Corolla motorcars).
While alive, the volume of blood that coursed through the veins of the murder victims was about 5,960 litres (this could fill 3 1/3 average-sized black Rhino water tanks). Even if only one bullet were used to kill each victim, should we collect all the warheads that were fired into them, we would end up with 152 kg of metal (the weight of two average adult men).
In spite of those disturbing figures, gunmen who commit murders are rarely apprehended; they seem to vanish into thin air like duppies. But, people who live by the gun will die by the gun and so most gunmen will indeed become duppies sooner rather than later.
But until then, relatives, friends and acquaintances knowingly provide comfort to these murderers. They are being housed, fed and the blood is being washed out of their clothes. Many people know precisely who the killers are among us but they remain silent out of fear or misplaced fealty.
I find it amazing that popular street sessions still play dancehall music fervently denigrating and vilifying homosexuals and informers while glorifying gunmen. They promote badness, worship violence and honour criminality.
The figures show that crime has become endemic and must, therefore, be fought on all fronts, including from the inside out. With this in mind, the authorities need to launch a blistering propaganda campaign of their own (via the electronic and print media).
CAMPAIGN AGAINST CRIME
We need to counteract the social programming that (for instance) allows killers to shoot and kill whomever they please and still walk about fearlessly within their communities while toting high-powered weapons. In addition to preventive social programmes and the crime-suppressing actions of the security forces, we should inundate the high-crime areas with flyers and posters decrying crime and violence while informing citizens of the telephone numbers for reporting criminal activity. We need to get the message across that ultimately, the task of stopping the bloodshed lies with the citizens and not solely with the security forces.
Gunmen are not duppies, they need the psychological and physical support of others to perform their nefarious acts. We should encourage family members and close friends to do all that they can to convince the gunmen to give up their way of life before they end up destroying this little country of ours.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
