The Editor, Sir:

It is with disgust that once again I listen to the leaders of both political parties using their speech in "privileged places" to incite their supporters to violence. Again it has reared its ugly head in at least two communities within the week. Who will rise above the cass-cass, bangarang and party lines to truly bring an end to it. I don't think we can leave it to the politicians because their agenda will always be self-serving and self-seeking. It has to be the ones who feel it and know the pain, who do not just want revenge but truly want a change.

The multiplier effect

My esteemed Prime Minister spoke on Monday of seeing parts of bodies and attending so many funerals. This is real and the multiplier effect is often devastating. The problem is the politician and other public officials return to their secluded mansions, utter like Lady Macbeth "out damned spot" and cleanse their souls.

The reverse happens for the victims. Revenge causes them to return the hurt and the cycle continues. Sometimes the killer and the corpse share the same residence, their children are in the same school, and even the same class. Animosity feeds on itself and begins to choke the root of conscience and reason and mayhem rules all the way. Whole communities can count scores of men who having been removed from this life because of violent conflicts in the '70s and '80s, now have offspring who have followed in their footsteps and will meet the same fate even while they also wreak havoc on society.

Enough is enough

Mr., Mrs., Ms. Politician, have you not learnt yet to listen to the cry of the people. Enough is enough. We want justice, that is to say we want NO MORE tribal, political divisiveness. The sane ones among us need to take a stand. Those of us who live in our communities and sit comfortably while they disintegrate because of human elements that scare us, need to understand that when we disarm these wimps, they are hopeless and helpless. If we allow them to fester and grow, we will soon have no safe haven in this island.

I commend Verna Parchment for speaking the truth, but pray you will not return to wallow in that mud under a different name. Change can come but it takes all of us. Polls forget to tell us that many who we see in the crowd will not vote for us. Be true to the job you have all been elected to do.

Who will bell the cat?

I am, etc.,

SHARON A. WILLIAMS

spicey_shar@hotmail.com