Delroy Chuck
DAILY, THINGS seem to get worse. Jamaica descends rapidly into a dark hole of criminality, with no end in sight.
The whole country is overtaken by fear of crime, of tsunami proportion, and born out of the daily recipe of murders most foul.
Even when no killings occur, the brazenness and heartlessness of our young criminals send chills throughout our bodies. How young men can shoot up a bus full of school children is beyond comprehension.
FRIGHTENING FIGURES
Since the start of the year, the murder figures are frightening.
Nowhere is immune, as even though the vast majority of crimes occur in the urban areas, the fear spreads throughout the society and even to the Jamaican Diaspora around the globe.
My family and friends abroad keep asking what is really happening here. No day passes without two to three murders occurring and, regularly, we average more than four per day.
Truly, these are chilling statistics that should awaken the whole society, and if this trend continues, to its imminent collapse. More than ever, we need a revolution of thought to respond to the worsening crime problem.
We are rapidly becoming a hopeless society, and when hope fades, things descend into chaos.
Ironically, even while the boardrooms of our commercial entities count their mounting profits, the corners of our inner cities engage in strategies to survive, and these strategies usually have no legitimate route or outcome.
BRIDGE THE GAP
If we believe Jamaica is on the right track, we need to spend time in our inner cities and listen to the cry of the people and, perhaps, we will get a better understanding of where Jamaica is heading.
Somehow, we need to bridge the gap between the few who are doing well, very well, and the massive throng of young people, pensioners and unemployed who are desperate and barely clinging to hope for daily survival.
At the present time, Jamaica has no safety net for the poor, the desperately poor, and neither does it have any immediate benefit for those who cannot fend for themselves or able to find meaningful occupation.
The real dilemma is that, in every community, there are hundreds of young people who wander from day to day with no hope that things will get better.
For the young men, the age group 16-26 is the period when their physiological urge for power, status and control is at its strongest.
They are the ones who are responsible for the vast majority of the crimes, perhaps for most, if not all, of the murders occurring daily.
To be sure, many young men gain prominence in sports, skills, education and other legitimate outlets, but far too many are left behind and become a thorn in our society.
Face the reality, in the inner cities, whenever there is a work programme, government crash programme or major construction, there is a fall off in criminality.
In truth, the young people need occupation, something worthwhile to occupy their time, head space and restless energy.
SHORT-TERM WORK
Until Jamaica and the business community can provide the thousands of needed jobs, we need short-term crash programme work, otherwise the young men tend to express their needs in undesirable ways.
The announcement by the Prime Minister of another round of the Lift-Up or crash programme work, ridiculous as it may seem to many, cannot come too soon.
It is urgently needed to respond to the cries of the desperate and deprived. Call it a political pork barrel if you will. but come into the inner cities and face the hundreds of young men who ask pleadingly or abusively what can be done for the youth.
I can speak with knowledge, as I have to deal with the inner city areas of Grants Pen, Barbican and Shortwood where there has been relatively calm, but can erupt at anytime.
I face a constant barrage of demands for work and meaningful activity, most of which cannot be satisfied. I face the vilification that I have access to the business community and get resources, benefits and work but, so it is wrongly alleged, keep it for close connections and myself.
If the young men are really the cause of the worsening crime problem, then how we respond will determine if the problem can be resolved or just keep getting worse.
If we respond with more tough and severe measures, it can only get worse, not better.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by email at Delchuck@Hotmail.Com.
