Thanks for joining me again in this critical conversation about our youth and crime inAnguilla. Every week the crime reports speak of several incidences of robbery, burglary, theft etc. Have we stopped to ask ourselves why our young people are stealing so much? Let us examine some realities our youth face:
1. Unemployment is high in the face of the local and global economic recession.
2. Many people, especially children go hungry each day – and I am also including children of parents with good jobs within government and the private sector.
3. Parents have to choose which bills to pay and which not to pay each week or month. They also have to choose between putting food on the table and paying the bank the amounts due each month for their land, car, home and student loans.
4. Cost of living inAnguillais extremely high and it is getting higher. The economic realities have seriously impacted our way of life. Thanks be to God if you still have your job. I strongly suggest you do everything in your power to keep your job.
5. There was a time when stress was something grownups suffered from. Today, stress is a childhood disease. Ask your children if they have stress and listen carefully to their answers.
6. Our young people are exposed to smoking and drinking before they are teenagers. This exposure develops into a habit which they turn to when life becomes too stressful for them.
7. To cut down on the cost of buying marijuana and to avoid being tragically affected by contaminated marijuana many of our young people have resorted to growing their own marijuana. While this may be sensible thinking it is still illegal and exposes them to arrest and prosecution. Every action has its consequences.
8. The shooting incidents have created an environment where more and more people, especially our youth feel the need to arm themselves. If they are not working, how will they get these weapons? What are the chances that they will go to the bank and get a loan to purchase guns? I suspect many would resort to stealing cash or goods to trade for the weapons they desire to protect themselves or to attack their so called enemies.
9. Anguillahas a very high alcohol consumption level. Many discover that after the overhang their problems are still very much present. For others, drinking is just part of the “party no matter what culture”. But, is it true that the importation or sale of alcohol generates a considerable amount of revenue for the government?
10. Everybody needs love, including our young boys even if they didn’t do well in school. Many of them have to make up in other areas what they lack in education. This means they have to look good, dress good, and have money to spend, treat their girl(s) well, and support their child(ren) – sadly often in that order.
11. Many of these youth have a criminal record and even if they had ambition to get a job they will more than likely be turned down. In addition, there seem to be some of us that are so low minded that if we see an ex prisoner with a job we believe it is our right to go and report them to their bosses and cause them to lose their jobs. They are working, earning an honest living for a change. Is that good or bad? No, we get them fired and then what?
12. Some prisoners are multiple repeat offenders and one wonders if life isn’t easier for them on the inside. Is it true that in prison they get free food, clothes, TV, and medical care?
13. No doubt there are those youngsters who have become kleptomaniacs. They cannot help stealing even if they try to stop. They have sticky fingers. Do you notice the kind of items that are stolen these days? Imagine someone grabbing a 100 pound cylinder of cooking gas and running with it?
Given all the realities listed above, we should not be alarmed that the rate of burglaries, etc is so high. No doubt we are also concerned because our tourism industry is so fragile; and an unsafe environment is a major turnoff for potential visitors to the island. Clearly more job opportunities are needed for the many who still desire to work. What is ironic though, is the tendency for employers to not hire persons with a criminal record. These persons already have a criminal record, so which do you think would be easier for them to do – work or steal? Of course it is a risk to hire a convicted thief. But, we hire qualified, respectable people who drink and eat dinner with us on weekends but who steal the very glasses off of our eyes so that we are blinded to their criminal actions. Furthermore, if we fail to hire persons with a criminal record, wouldn’t that encourage some of them to commit more crimes and further cripple the very tourist industry we are trying to protect? We need to discuss our options here, don’t we?
Some of you are saying, but he sounds like he is defending those thieves out there. Am I? I have had my home broken into while away at work. Thankfully, neither I nor my family was home. But I know what it feels like to have the privacy of my family’s home invaded. I know how violated and naked one feels, knowing that a stranger or strangers were walking to and fro in my home, where my wife and my children sleep, play and live. When this happens your home can never feel like a safe sanctuary again. But I am also a realist, and we have to find a solution to these challenges our young people are facing, even if only to raise awareness by publicly discussing them. These are our children. Children we gave birth to and nurtured in Church and public schools. Whatever may have caused them to choose a life of crime and violence, they are still our children. We cannot just abandon them and turn our backs upon them or banish them to prison.
Talking about prison, I hear that our prison here is overcrowded. With all the new crimes and shootings, where will the court send the perpetrators when they are caught and prosecuted? Did you just say, “If the police can catch them to prosecute them”? Lord have mercy upon littleAnguilla. I can recall a sad comment being made about Anguilla some time ago, to the effect “if you want to commit a crime and get away with it, go toAnguilla”. It seems like the overcrowded prison now means if you commit a crime you will be caught and prosecuted.
I understand that the courts may be trying to ease the pressure from the prison by giving more fines instead of locking up the guilty. The word on the street is that these same persons end up in prison because they are not working and can’t pay the fines. Helloooo! I also understand that baby fathers are being locked up because they are not paying child support. I imagine some of the men just don’t want to pay. But if unemployment is so high, is it possible that some of these men are unemployed? And, is it true that when they come out of prison after 6 months they still have to pay the arrears they owe for child support, plus pay for the 6 months they were in prison doing nothing? Now tell me if that makes sense? You don’t even need CXC’s to tell you something is wrong with this picture.
What are our options as a people to address such problems facing our young people and society? We can blame the government, slavery or the mother land all we want – nothing changes. There is much that parents need to do in reaching out to their children and “being there” for them. In some places children were called “barrel children” because their parents had to migrate to work and send back money and supplies for the children. They were raised by grandparents who had neither the strength nor wit to keep up with the children. InAnguilla, the majority of the last two generations of children raised themselves. Both parents and grandparents had two or three jobs. What was the outcome? Friends became far more important and treasured than family. Family, which was the mainstay of the Anguillian society and culture, was replaced by “friends”. Nothing is wrong with such a phenomenon, because I think the bible says there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. But what happens when those friends are engaged in a life of crime and violence? I have high regard and respect for this one mother who said to me, “I lost my first son to a life of crime because I had to be working night and day. I will not lose my last one.” She quit one of her jobs even though she could not afford it. She chose her last son over her ability to provide for him. That’s what it means to be a parent. It is called taking responsibility.
The chamber of commerce needs to examine and advise all employers on the costs and benefits of refusing to employ ex-prisoners. If we refuse to employ them, will they not find a way to survive with or without our help? Those of us who look down at those who were convicted of theft or other crimes, go look in the mirror. If the mirror is clean there is no need to be offended.
Now, there are two areas of activity that we must turn our attention to as a nation: agriculture and fishing. The truth is, agriculture and fishing are the two main ways in which our ancestors survived. However, when we became theNew Yorkof the Caribbean we could buy fish fromJapanand vegetables fromScotlandor wherever we got them from. So we stopped fishing and we stopped farming. The time has come for us to return to our roots. We need to be creative and proactive in developing these two industries. It is not enough to leave it up to the initiative and resources of the Edwin Carty’s and Jack Masters. It needs to be a partnership between government and the fishermen; whether it be more incentives, subsidies, facilities, facilitating new markets, vessels, etc. These are not new ideas, but could it be that the time is more opportune now than before? I am excited to hear of recent meetings involving the various stakeholders in the fishing industry. There are so many advantages to be derived from growing our fishing industry that we dare not let this opportunity pass by. Go to the meetings, ask questions make suggestions push the envelope and think outside of the box. Now is the time for fishing, and for some of our unemployed and ex-prisoners to chart a new course in their lives.
I was privileged to attend a memorial service for “Kitto” of Sandy Ground who was lost at sea. His Excellency the Governor and several members of Government were present. The preacher called for the passing of a “Kitto Bill” mandating that all fishing vessels be equipped with available technology which, if present in Kitto’s boat, would have resulted in the early and safe rescue of all three fishermen. The preacher also challenged those capable of influencing the spending of funds being raised in recognition of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, to work towards procuring a state of the art coast guard forAnguillaand a trained team of coast guard officers. I agree that our fishermen and women need this kind of support. Their families also need peace of mind when they are out to sea.
As for agriculture, many families, of their own volition, have returned to the garden-farm. My question is, why should it be just farming for the family table? Why not use another aspect of our Anguillian culture and heritage – jollification, and create more community farms. As you drive throughAnguillayou can see farms along the airport road and going into the Farrington, perhaps elsewhere also. How can we reproduce such farms in many more communities, and create work opportunities for our unemployed and in particular our troubled youth? Imagine what could happen if we can find work for many of these vulnerable young people who want to get out of the vicious cycle of crime and violence. Imagine what it would mean for them and for our society to see them working and earning a living rather than choosing to steal it from others.
It is time for solutions now. Let us talk and brain storm about our options. We have the skills and resources among us. I picked up this quote recently on facebook by Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done”. Let’s do it! Next week will be my final in this series, and I would want to suggest some psychological reasons for the violence among our youth. Hopefully, it would help our conversation and understanding and response to our youth.
– Contributed
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
