The Editor, Sir:

I read the story about thugs crashing the JLP's conference and grimaced at the thought that violence had gone to show its face in such a big and bold setting. Yet, I could not help but think Mr Man now knows what we feel and that this might actually help to propel the efforts to find a solution to the crime situation.

How else will the 'powers that be' know the magnitude of the problem of violence faced by ordinary Jamaicans, unless they too experience this terror? How else will they know the desperation of our situations and the need for real solutions until they too confront it head-on?

The occurrence also pointed to another issue also at the root of the current monster of violence. With the prime minister's statement that, "I have been at conferences since 1968, What happened here today has never happened before," I could not help but to think, 'the fowls had come to roost'.

Politicians the driving force

Where were all these current politicians in the 1970s, when politicians were the driving forces behind gangs and dons wreaking havoc on well-thinking Jamaicans? Stephen Vasciannie posed this question in an article to your paper some 10 years ago when I was just an upper-sixth student dutifully reading his article for my General Paper mock exams. This question remains unanswered.

It makes me laugh when politicians express shock at Jamaica's current civil unrest. Maybe the first step to solving the crime situation is for these politicians to fess up and apologise to Jamaicans. We read! We know that you too are culpable in this problem of crime.

I am, etc.,

Concerned Citizen