Sunday, 9th June 2013 (North Side, Anguilla)—Tonight I find myself needing the quiet space of solitude to contemplate the news I received earlier in the day. A friend called and told me that another young man was gunned down in North Valley. I was utterly stunned when I heard the words, not just because I am acquainted with the youth and had seen him walking on the North Side Road a few days ago, but also because the shooting occurred close to the village in which I reside. So I took the death very personal because for all of us who live on Anguilla, this is a very small community and what impacts one person or family affects everyone island wide.
It has been less than 13 months since I wrote the story of A Young Man’s Life Sacrificed that was published in The Anguillian on 25th May 2012. I was inspired by God to put the sentiments that I felt and observed in the congregation into writing after attending the funeral for Gustave Charles Hodge Lewis at Ebenezer Methodist Church in The Valley. Now here I am, a little over a year later, once again feeling compelled by The Most High’s Spirit to compose thoughts regarding another senseless killing (or I dare say an assassination execution style) of Troy Connor (aka Rachet).
I am baffled by Troy’s demise and want to speak for my own voice as well as the voices that I have heard rumbling in the neighbourhood with theories as to why he was so violently murdered. Some individuals believe that his being “gunned down” was meant to send a message to the persons who were really intended as targets. The message was that these gunmen could come into the neighbour at any time and kill an innocent victim with no remorse They had no fear of anyone and could get away with murder. Other persons have said that where he was killed is close to the residence of a family who has had several members go to prison for criminal activity and that they were the real targets. This could have meant it was a retaliation of some sort. Then a few people think that Troy happened to be “in the wrong place at the wrong time” and any young man who had been in that exact same spot on that particular night would have been shot.
What the real truth is for the gunmen shooting Troy, only they and the Lord know for sure. But I would hope and pray that we are able to get to the bottom of this gangsta’ business (gangster or gangs’ warfare) and uncover the truth of why all this violence is occurring amongst the young men in our community. We all know these acts are committed worldwide everyday in numerous communities globally. Yet we can only really focus our attention on the community in which we live daily and reside year round. I am revolted by continuing to hear of these volatile situations, and want to find a way through my writing to get through to even one youth to reflect on the direction of his life and to turn himself around for the greater good of himself, his family, the community and society.
As I see it, from my perspective, the world in which we live is becoming like the cities of Sodom and Gomorra that God spoke about in the Bible. Sometimes I wonder why the Creator does not wipe out the human race from the planet because we have become insensitive to the trials and tribulations of our fellow humans – we breed and thrive on witnessing or watching acts of violence. Just take a peep at the television shows thatpeople view and what the news portrays nightly on TV. In fact, we seem to think the more gruesome, the better. Every year Hollywood produces many “Academy award winning” movies depicting atrocious negative images. I am speaking of human beings in general and referring to the masses of people who are asleep or unconsciously unaware and not making reference to one particular individual, ethnicity, nationality or religious faith.
Of course, I have a theory behind all of these gang related killings that go on. It might be considered by some persons to be too controversial to print, but I wish to speak the truth as I perceive it to be and present some “food for thought” to get individuals to start thinking for themselves and questioning what we are encouraged to believe is “The Truth”. My maternal grandmother, Mrs Martha Garrett Simons, had a saying that I recollect my mother paraphrased to me as a child. Rather than say a person was telling a lie or calling him/her a liar, she said he/she “was not very well acquainted with the truth”. I have always liked Mama’s saying because it allowed a person to become well acquainted with the truth if he/she chose to do that. I, myself, am always “in search of the truth”, trying to find what’s real, what are the facts and not fiction.
If you think these words are too controversial, you can stop reading this article now. But if you’re curious to know the truth, then continue reading. Like the poets who spoke their words at The Underground on May 26th, we refuse to be silenced by the naysayers and critics or those who would judge us for our differences of opinion or perspectives. So I am speaking out for the voices that remain silent as well as for what I perceive to be the truth.
My theory with regard to this gangsta’ business is that it is another form of slavery in the modern day world we live in the 21st century. For many of us, some of our ancestors or fore-parents were enslaved and worked on plantations. The “massas” or slave owners had control of the slaves’ lives. They could separate the enslaved persons from their entire families, use excessive corporal punishment, hunt and track them down, and lynch them if they so desired. Now our young people may not know this history or her-story of their bloodline relatives. But I know from my mother, and Great Aunt Minnie Simons Williams, the true story of the African who was captured, enslaved and brought to North America – and who was able to re-purchase his freedom and that of his wife and daughters. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to buy back his sons and release them from captivity.
I have a suspicion that the gangs, like the methods used by slave masters to keep exercising control over the slaves and de-moralise the mental minds of the human beings they held captive, are still used in these times to divide and conquer our people. Don’t we see what is happening in the Anguilla of today? There is divisiveness amongst our political leaders, within our own community of villages, in families and even with friends or colleagues. The overall plan of the few people, who are supposedly really in charge of what is going on in the world, is to have a system in place that keeps the majority of people globally confused and in chaos or crisis, so they won’t become awake and in tune to what is really going on. This theory is controversial because most people do not want to think anything like this could be happening in the year 2013. But take a closer and in depth look at what is going on around you and ask yourself what is the cause of the events that are occurring. Sure, many individuals are frustrated because of the tough economic times in which we are living, with no jobs, underemployment and no future to look forward to building. Listen to Iwandi I on Up Beat Radio (97.7 FM) and he will preach revealing the truth, which many persons do not want to hear.
Perhaps all that is happening is merely a part of God’s greater plan to steer us man, woman and child into a more positive direction – or another theory that I’ve heard is The Maker is cleaning up the planet. At times, I wonder if The Most High was conducting an experiment with the human species that has now gone haywire. That’s my vivid, imaginative mind working to think of reasons why people behave as they do, and why the Lord has not returned in the flesh to rescue us from all of this madness that exists.
As regards the brutal murder of Troy, or Rachet as he was nicknamed, I do not believe that the way he died was necessary. I do not understand Jah’s reasoning for having his death come about in such a manner. Yet, somehow, I know that it was time for his soul to depart as sad as that may seem. My heart is filled with empathy for his mother, family and friends, for all of us who knew him and those who did not, for the senseless killing of a young man and all the young men who have been gunned down in our small community on Anguilla as well as the other children, men and women throughout the globe. I know that tonight I will once again get down on my knees and say an earnest prayer for peace, compassion, comprehension and God’s judgement to mete out to the individuals who committed this gruesome crime.
It could be that this young man’s death brings to the surface the memories of the death of a close friend’s son. Like Troy, he too had mental health challenges. I know he felt that he did not belong in this world and wanted an out. His way of exiting life was to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head last October shortly after I had visited with him and his mother in Florida, USA. It was about a month later that he passed away and I can clearly recall our last conversation when he was not in his right mind. In fact the night after I arrived at my friend’s home, we wound up having to contact an emergency crisis line and get social workers with assistance from the police to admit him for treatment to a mental healthcare facility. We were unable to help him on our own even though we tried to save him from himself.
Months after her son’s passing, my friend found out that an alleged “friend” of the youth had given him the gun with which he took his own life. That is the truth as far as we were able to investigate as to how he acquired the instrument that brought about his death. It was a traumatic experience for the mother to go through, dealing with the police, as I suspect is true for the mother of Troy. Our hearts of compassion are with Troy’s family as they deal with the untimely death of their beloved relative.
I write this article to tell our young people that guns and violence, taking another human beings life or harming another person with a weapon, DO NOT RESOLVE any disputes, arguments or differences that you may have with another individual or group of persons. Promoting gangs is an abomination to the Lord and in our Christian society, or any community, it just is NOT THE RIGHT THING TO DO. You have got to learn to utilise less drastic methods to settle your “beefs” and vent your frustrations. Otherwise, you may very well end up killing off and/or maiming all of the young men who reside in our nation of Anguilla.
From reading the article Youthman written and posted on Facebook by Reverend Lindsay Richardson, I can comprehend the frustrated feelings you have from no work, no jobs, no future, adults not listening to you and the government doing nuthin’ to help you. But man, LISTEN, killing each other off will by no means make your inner selves feel better about who you are or who you’ve become. I understand you want to protect those who got your back and are protecting you, but hiding behind smoke screens and guns, living in lies is not going to make any of this craziness go away or make you feel any better about yourself.
Youths, use me as an example of how to cope with long periods of unemployment, traumas, etc. The only way I have managed to survive and thrive is to work on my own self because I am the only person who can change me and truly heal myself from the wounds of the past. And one method used to accomplish this goal is by speaking and living the truth, as I perceive it to be, correcting myself when I am wrong or have lacked the knowledge and inner wisdom to see the truth clearly.
Lets give up these “Wild West”, lawless tactics and go back to the days when we had peaceful revolutions like the “quiet” Anguilla revolution in 1967. I implore those who have information on these incidents of violence to step up to the plate, be courageous and not cowards, do what is right in the sight of God and go tell someone whom you trust what you know, so that the proper law enforcement authorities can resolve these crimes. If you don’t want to go directly to the Royal Anguilla Police Force, then inform a trusted pastor or minister, a responsible member of Government or reliable person in your community who will relay the information without divulging the source of the informant.
We need to get rid of any perceived corruption and lack of confidentiality on the inside that makes people not want to report information to the RAPF, so that the police officers who are really doing their job or trying to do it can do what needs to be done to apprehend the criminals. And may I add that locking up our young men in Her Majesty’s Prison is NOT THE ANSWER to alleviating or reducing the crimes we are all facing on island. As a community, we need to find real solutions to these nagging problems and positive ways to encourage our youths to be rehabilitated and become whole persons again. We cannot resolve these crimes without voices speaking out, so speak the truth of what you know or witness first sight.
May be in order to aid our young men and women, we ought to have poetry writing and recitations in prison to encourage the incarcerated individuals to explore their feelings and thus help them “Move On” (as Omari Banks has titled his recently released album) to developing a more positive lifestyle. As Jamaican Dub Poet Yasus Afari says, “When Positive Poetry Increases, Violence Decreases as Poetry Helps in Self-Expression, Which Undermines the Tendency of Violent / Destructive Self-Expression. I believe, as Yasus has said, “If yu nah Write yu Wrong!”
Writing has saved my life many times when I needed to ventilate (blow off) pent up emotions and didn’t want to explode doing harm to myself or others. Create your own art form of writing whether it is poems, prose, rapping, songs or whatever. Express yourself in a constructive manner instead of going out and shooting some innocent victim or using cuss words to tell off somebody. Use any medium of conveying these expressions of yours. Post it on Facebook, tweet it, text it, email or BBM using your mobile, smart phone, PC, laptop or iPad – whatever works best for you – or just go the old-fashioned route of taking pen and paper to hand to write as I often do. Write on napkins, scraps of paper in a composition book. Utilise the materials available to you for writing.
JUST WRITE, WRITE, WRITE AND EXPRESS YOURSELF!!! No one has to be a critical judge of your writings…only God knows what is in your heart, what you are feeling and why you are writing the words you’ve been inspired to compose.
Kay M. Ferguson is a creative professional writer who is compelled by the Spirit of God to speak out about the violence perpetuated amongst the youth in our small island community. She suggests as an aid to help people heal. Should you wish to comment on this article, you may contact Kay directly by email at anguillawriter@gmail.com.
