'We are killing each other over foolishness'

October 05, 2018
A Jamaica Defence Force soldier checks a delivery van during the public emergency in the St Catherine North Police Division in March.
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Every day we get up and talk about the high murder rate and what government needs to do to stem the bloodshed that has seen more than 30,000 Jamaicans murdered over a generation.

We are divided over whether the Zones of Special Operation and the States of Emergency are effective crime-fighting strategies or even part of the national strategy to stem the bloodshed. Again, as far as many of us are concerned, all this falls on government.

For those of you who believe this, explain to me how any crime-fighting strategy is going to prevent a jilted lover from beheading his girlfriend and her daughter? Explain, if you can, how the police or soldier can prevent a man from killing a young girl and stuffing her body into an igloo.

Rationalise how crime fighters can stop a man in a fit of anger, from chopping his girlfriend, who happens to be a police officer, to death!

Not Preventable

Many, and in my mind, an increasing number of the murders recorded in Jamaica these days are not preventable. These are not gang-related killings that can be stemmed by proper policing or special operations being mounted inside afflicted communities. These are heinous crimes committed by people on their loved ones within the privacy of their homes and lives.

What this means is that there is something going on with us, wherein the only way we can settle disputes is by someone dying. That, to me, is crazy.

I have written before about how willing people are to take someone’s life over the simplest of disagreements. This is not a government problem,this is not a PNP/JLP problem. This is a problem that each and every one of us has to confront because we are the ones killing each other over foolishness.

Under what circumstance does it make sense killing a woman if she cheats on you or if you believe she is? How is that logical? You will spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder, ducking the police or some truly law-abiding citizen who has evidence of your whereabouts.

As I have said before, no man owns no woman and vice versa. If they cheat, don’t kill. Leave.

There are many funny stories that men tell about their infidelity. Not many women can tell those stories, even if they wanted to, because most times they’re dead. And that’s just ridiculous.

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