The Editor
The Anguillian
Dear Sir,
DONT WAIT UNTIL IT’S AT YOUR DOOR TO FEEL THE PAIN, ANGUILLA IS YOUR HOME
I attended an event over the weekend and left early due to my not liking to be at events around sunset and thereafter. Upon leaving I told a friend I was going home because I don’t want to be shot, as it has become a custom for persons to disturb functions with gun violence, stabbing or fighting.
When I got home the discussion I had with one of my siblings was about the people (gunshot victims and those who have been in accidents) whom “we” have to help. That is because they have been paralysed to some degree, and therefore need others to take care of them. Generally speaking, I told my brother we don’t know who will be next and therefore we must help whenever and however we can.
Within an hour of our conversation I heard my bb signal and checked my phone only to shout, “AGAIN!” It read in short, shooting on the new road in Blowing Point. I told my brother what I read, made one phone call and found out the victim was a friend of my mom’s. It made me wonder again, “who will be next.”
It doesn’t seem like we are anymore our brother’s keeper and that we have now become enemies at war. It is disheartening to see that a friendly handshake, a hug or saying sorry no longer settles disputes or disagreements among us as in days gone by.
How did we get to this? Why have we taken to such brutality as if we are some creatures whom no one has ever seen or heard of? It’s a crying shame whatAnguillahas come to.
I was also at work over the weekend, at one of the island’s most popular restaurants that, at the time had quite a number of guests when, within about five seconds, I heard the sound: pop pop pop pop. One of the guests at a table asked the others, “Were those gunshots I just heard?” To myself I said, “Lord, what’s happening again,” and then asked one of my co-workers, “You heard that?”
It seems like we have forgotten there is law in littleAnguillaand therefore the fastest way to solve a problem is to take to fighting, killing or injuring and taking matters into our own hands.
Since this is the problem today, I would like to suggest to the RAPF to take to the streets and search ALL persons in vehicles, and the vehicle, and see if this doesn’t help to find these weapons of destruction. Ask LIME and DIGICEL to shut down the services they provide when searches are to be carried out and see whether such measures can help prevent persons from communicating with each other during the search. If there are any emergencies 911 would be available. There must be ways of trying to solve these crimes. They are happening too often and no one seems to care unless it hits home.
There must be a parent (s), a sibling, a friend or a victim who knows someone who has a gun. There must be someone who knows who is responsible for injuring someone else. It is time that we speak out. Unless it hits home we don’t cry or feel the pain that has already been inflicted to another home. When the criminals are brought to justice their family and friends still have the gall to cry when they are sentenced to prison, even though they have brutally taken a life or caused someone else to be seriously injured for the rest of his or her life.
There is a song with the words, “Uh hear the youth dem crying whoay, another one gone again”. We must ask ourselves, “How would I feel if the victim or victims of such crimes were my own flesh and blood? Wouldn’t we want justice?
With Anguilla already at a slow pace, we must seek to prevent these crimes from happening and be at peace with each other. Guests hearing gunshots while dining or vacationing will stop coming to our shores. Tourism is our daily bread. It is all we depend on for survival. WE MUST STOP THE GANG VIOLENCE. Guns should not be brought to our shores. We have other means of settling disputes without shedding blood or being physically abused.
Let us as parents, families, friends, co-workers and those in authority encourage each other to be our brother’s keeper and RISE ABOVE HATE.
Anguillian
