Is this the future you want for Jamaica?
HALF-WAY-TREE: A BRAWL EPICENTER
May is devoted to celebrating and honouring children. May I invite you to add one more key activity? Pray a little more for Jamaican children.
Jamaican schools have been plagued by an unprecedented wave of violence in the past few weeks. From brawls in public spaces like Half-Way-Tree to children stomping on each other in quiet communities as they walk home from school. Recently, the Half-Way-Tree transport centre turned into a brawl zone, where students fought, punched, and kicked each other in a viral video. A day later, there was the fight over a female from The Queen’s School in which boys from Calabar, Mona, and one from Campion engaged in a “combat” in which they fought over the girl.
CHILDREN LIVE WHAT THEY LEARN
On the other side of the island, in Montego Bay, in an apparent bullying-related incident, a student was stabbed; he would later die during emergency surgery. All these “critical incidents” (which the Minister of Education recently disclosed numbers 55 from January 2023 to January 2024) and the many more that have occurred since and those unreported, represent a fundamental and critical failure on the part of parents, schools, teachers, and the communities in which these children are raised. The phrase ‘children live what they learn’ has never been more blatantly obvious.
In a nation that promotes and endorses violence, we seem to have become largely desensitised to crime and death (at least, until they reach our doorstep). The children and youth of this nation—the next generation—have learned much from the adults. What have they learned? That by getting a job at a bank or financial institution, you can learn to steal clients’ money and continue to be paid to do so for years before you are caught. This was perfectly displayed in the SSL scandal with Jean-Ann Panton (did she really act all on her own?) Where is all the money she allegedly took?); and NCB bank employee Khadene Thomas from St. Ann. The latter stole a staggering $74.5 million Jamaican dollars!
“CHOP e’ LINE”
The phrase ‘Chop e line’ (obtaining something illegally or immorally) is now synonymous with youth culture in Jamaica and is something that is celebrated. In fact, Dennis Meadows of the PNP was recently under fire and later lost his bid for the Trelawny Northern constituency. This was because he endorsed an act that seems to be a job for quite a few Jamaican people: scamming elderly Americans and other foreigners. Meadows glossed it over, likening it to taking back what Jamaica was robbed of in the past.
He said, “Let me tell you straight up, and me can speak openly. I have no problem with a man if him wah chop. Because dem chop us during slavery so nothing wrong if we chop dem back. My only problem with chopping is that when you bingo, and you score, use the money wisely.”
He was later questioned regarding his sobriety at the time the comments were made, and he admitted that he had had a few prior to the unfortunate utterings, which he later withdrew, saying, “Sometimes, unfortunately, you are under political pressure and you respond without thinking. We as politicians, sometimes we must restrain ourselves. I unreservedly again withdraw such reprehensible comment.”
However, aside from the clear case of wrong being perpetrated in robbing elderly people, Meadows failed to realise that scamming has caused many Jamaicans to lose their lives prematurely. Case in point: the Moodie siblings from Westmoreland, who were found buried in a shallow grave after going missing in a death that was linked to their involvement in scamming. Not to mention the wide range of other types of violence in our nation:
Exhibit A: An irate taxi driver attacked another motorist who got into an accident with him. He smashed the Pajero driver’s window and then returned quickly with a sharp object in an attempt to attack the driver.
This and similar cases have sad endings—it’s either death, loss of status, or imprisonment.
NORMALIZED CHAOS
Yet, the damage has already been done. Jamaican youth have been flooded with violence on social media and in day-to-day life. Whether in individual households, at school, or on the road, it is a fact that is impossible to ignore. Jamaica is a very violent nation, and that violence has had a detrimental impact on the psyche of the youth. The education minister, Fayval Williams, herself remarked late last year that “with the lingering stigma around mental health, we cannot be complacent in addressing these issues. Indeed, that report (State of the World’s Children 2021 report) said that in Jamaica, 16 ½ percent of adolescents live with a diagnosed mental health disorder.”
PARENTS’ FAILURE
Many parents have simply failed to parent; consider 17-year-old Daniel Rose, who was killed after being a part of a gang-related shootout with the police on May 8. In a TVJ interview, his sister admitted he had been out of school since the 6th grade. He had passed for Denham Town High but was not attending classes, and when his mother moved out of a dilapidated building, she left him behind. He had to fend for himself from the age of 14; all this while his sister tried her best to guide him along the right path. Only for him to reject her guidance and perish young and in a hail of bullets.
It is on this note that I end this article. It is obvious that there are significant fundamental issues in our nation. It is imperative that we continue to pray for change for our youth and country and play our practical part in advancing their welfare.
Ask yourself this question: Is this the future that I want for Jamaica? What am I doing about it?
Ifeoluwa Alonge is 15 years old and has been writing with Freedom Come Rain since he was 11.