‘Don’t wait till it reach your doorstep’ - QQ urges Jamaicans to bond together to fight crime

Dancehall artiste QQ is pleading with Jamaicans to unite in the fight against crime. This after learning of the murder of Peace Management Initiative officer Kevin ‘Rumm Ramm’ Clarke, who was killed in Arnett Gardens, St Andrew, on Monday.

QQ, when he was about 10 years old, did the song that popularised the Rumm Ramm dance.

“The crime situation has reached an unprecedented level. I am an avid reader, I’m always keeping in touch with the news, 24/7,” QQ said. He told THE WEEKEND STAR that he often gets sad when he reads about crime.

“I remember the other day when they reported how many people had died in just 20 days into the year, I was really saddened by it,” he said. “The other day we were at 167 at 45 days, and the thought of that is just crazy. We, as a people, have to start looking at certain things now because we can’t rely solely on the Government. This crime situation is going to take the efforts of all of us.”

At least 170 murders have been recorded in Jamaica since the start of the year. These killings are taking place even as eight of the country’s 19 police divisions are under states of emergency.

PEACE AND ORDER need BE RESTORED

QQ, whose given name is Kareem Dawkins, said that there must be a concerted effort to restore a sense of peace and order to the country.

“This needs the inclusion of the people, the private sector, us as artistes … everybody, because it affects all of us. The problem we’re having that prevents us from actively fighting crime is that a lot of us don’t get involved because it has not reached our doorsteps as yet,” he reasoned.

Like fellow dancehall artiste Bounty Killer, QQ believes the Government’s resources would be better spent implementing social development programmes for the youth rather than activating states of emergency and zones of special operations.

“This is something I’ve always been saying for years. How is it we find so much money to employ so much police to go and look for badman, but we don’t try to reach out to the good guys?” he questioned.

“Why don’t we send people into these troubled communities to encourage the youths to do good, and encourage the ones that are and make dem feel good?”

“I personally believe that a good initiative for the Government would be to go into every community and implement sports programmes, music programmes, etc, for the youths. You never know how many yutes you can take out of poverty with these programmes; and when a man’s quality of life is improved, you’d be surprised how his mindset changes,” QQ said.