Deep seated social problems fuel violence

| 02/02/2015 | 25 Comments

(CNS): During a community meeting in West Bay last week, both the chief inspector of the West Bay Police Station and the premier expressed their concerns about the frightening level of violence used by young men to settle minor disputes in the district.  Premier Alden McLaughlin said that there were deep-seated social problems behind the fatal violence that has reemerged in West Bay recently but he was struggling to understand the trivial issues that are causing these young men to kill each other.

“What I cannot get my head around is what’s transpired in Cayman over the course of a generation where life has becomes so cheap, so worthless, so valueless in the minds of … young men who will kill another over the fact that he ‘dissed’ someone … or over a girl, or over nothing,” he said.

Pointing to the vicious circle of violence as gang members retaliate for each killing, McLaughlin said, “It is not the kind of gang warfare … on the news associated with gang behavior. These guys are not fighting over turf or over the drug trade … They are killing each other over what the rest of us would see as trivial things but to them are huge issues enough for them to go and kill someone.”

The premier said the police had kept a lid on the gangs over the last year but the issues causing the tensions have not gone away, and while they have kept the gangs apart, they cannot stop it.

“The police cannot solve the problem,” he said. “Until we are able to adequately address the social issues … and somehow change the mentality that has developed that the answer to every ‘diss’ is to go kill someone, we are going to have these issues.”

Harlon Powery, the senior Caymanian officer heading up the West Bay Police Station who is also from the district, said that the gangs had their own-subculture and the level of violence was an indication that society had failed these young people. He raised particular concerns about the wall of silence police were meeting when the gunmen were killing friends and family members.

He said that both Victor Yates, killed on 3 January, and David Ebanks, killed on 23 January, were shot dead in front of their friends but those who saw the murders were not willing to give evidence, as he urged the witnesses to find the moral fortitude to come forward.

Powery warned that the kids involved in the gang violence had a life expectancy of less than 30 and those that didn’t end up in an early grave were likely to spend the rest of their lives in HMP Northward.

He said the police had deployed additional resources in an effort to keep the gangs apart but he insisted that the issue was not a police problem alone and without the support of the community to address the social problems behind the culture of gang violence and the failure of witnesses to come forward, the violence would continue.

Powery pointed out that there could not be a police officer or social worker for every child going astray and families, especially the men in families, need to step up and take responsibility for their children.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    A lack of basic control of children has lead to a deadly result…..How proud these so-called parents must be!! WOW….you keep taking them to the cemeteries; hollering and bawling like a banchee but can’t do anything to put LIFE back in them……That’s the SAD reality…..PARENTS are RESPONSIBLE for their children…..End of subject. Society plays a role BUT the main guding factor in any child’s life is their PARENT, extended family and then society!! Boys walking around with pants showing their underwear and every two seconds grabbing them to haul them up? Girls barely 4. Yrs old are dressed like party-goers with bodies exposed? Words that sound like a drunken sailor spoken like its sweet? Every lil child with the latest cellphone? Homes filled or allowed to be used for all-nite parties filled with drugs and alcohol? Boys barely 16 and girls at 14 creating children? Graduation ceremonies at Primary Schools and when you check them they can’t read NOR write? $550 per month fr Social services (our money) and by Monday morning not one dollar for their child’s lunch or break? Both parents working and no one including grandma or papa home to watch the children? And we WONDER where we have lost our way AND why our children are being taken DEAD to cemeteries?? REALLY? Who buys the over-sized pants, cellpbones, halter tops and skimpy shorts? PARENTS with NO values!! That’s the answer…..Who refuses to allow the children to pass from one grade to the next without being able to read and write? Parents AND the Education System….That’s the answer…..Who stands up for the good parents struggling to make basic ends meet but can’t because wages are $3.50 an hour while milk is $2.69 per half gallon? NO ONE…….and yet we okayed a 13 member committee to review what we KNOW is slave-wages? We debate extending JAIL. Time for certain offences BUT don’t tack-on $65K to the after-school programs which help to offiset some from drowning in the chasms!! This “deep-seated” emotion has many prongs and it will take ALL of us to right this ship….We have a huge problem on our hands because we REFUSED to acknowledge slave labor; teen pregnancies; lack of vo-tech schooling and the breakdown of the fabric of the FAMILY unit. Compound that with parents and grandparents who give shelter, food and clothing to able-bodied young men who should be working and VIOLA there’s the mixture for this lack of respect for life…….West Bayers aren’t the only ones in this mess…..Its Island-wide!! So it ALL our problem and we best address the wound with the proper medication because a simple bandage on one end only WON’T eradicate this mess!!

    • Anonymous says:

      1 million thumbs up to you. You hit the nail on the head. New Year’s Eve night I saw a young teenage girl who actually looked about 8 so I think she may not have even been a teenager but maybe about 10 years old in a short skirt that barely covered her behind. My husband insisted that there is no way that it was a little girl dressed like that. A few days later, I saw her on the road walking from school in uniform. No parent should allow their young daughter to be dressed like that. I see parents putting make up on their primary school girls as well and then get upset when they have boyfriends. Parents stop sexualizing your daughters and letting your boys be bums in your house. They should all have chores around the house and jobs as soon as possible. They can clean bush for people on weekends, work in the supermarket, etc. American children babysit, mow the lawn, work in supermarkets bagging and cashier. Why do our children think they are too good to do it? Parents teach them that. My boys worked in the grocery store bagging, cleaning, etc and now they are in college and working.

  2. Anonymous says:

    has anyone really taken a look at the social media of these kids…. go to the victims … find the pictures that have guns and drugs in them….clicks on who likes them….you will see many of them are young.. I mean 14, 15 years old… I came across a child throwing up gang signs and could not have been a day older than 12. talking about guns and calling these acquaintances “fam” these little ones idolize the older ones.. the older ones are not proper role models. It is scary. tons of references to not snitching and that money is the most important thing. tons of references to the life style… this will not get better unless they stop the cycle. and whats with the bikes? I see dirt bikes and others all over…are some of them even street legal?

    • Anonymous says:

      Remember when the police rounded up all the pocket rockets? These are bikes that are not roadworthy being driven at high rates of speed day and night through West Bay. where are they getting them?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Fundamentally, parents of the Rodney King era, with any kind of decent aspirations for their offspring, should know better than to allow their kids to attire themselves and behave rudely or abusively in emulation of slum gangsters/hiphop artists. These gangland uniforms shouldn’t be a ‘cool’ or ‘desirable’ look in 2015. Clearly violent headline media incidents in the USA and elsewhere demonstrate how dressing like a street rat can lead to undeserved criminal treatment, and worse. Black, white, hispanic, or asian – it doesn’t matter: if you dress and behave like a underworld villain, problems will find you – in every urban community of the planet.

  4. guest says:

    From my observations over the lack of impulse control, where a disproportionate level of violence is used to combat a low level of provocation I would atribute this to a very low level of self esteem, call it little willy syndrome. Whenever someone ‘loses it’ over a trivial thing my first thoughts are, oh…little willy syndrome. I don’t mean to make light of the violence, and the impact on friends and families, but maybe if we all thought ‘little willy’ rather than ‘tough guy’ and referred to them as ‘little willies’ rather than ‘gansta’s’, who knows?

  5. Anonymous says:

    Great comments here and I think we are looking at a varying combination of negative influences in these cases.
    – Parenting is obviously a large part of development. Start with the knowledge that raising children properly is the most important thing you will do in your life and it is a daunting task. Don’t have children if you aren’t up to the challenge. You must constantly watch for signs they may be straying from basic principles of right and wrong or merely getting caught up with the wrong crowd. If your child is gansta posing on social media sites, dressing like a thug rapper, or perhaps dating this type of person, be very concerned. You must reinforce your values by communicating constantly with your children.
    – Quit electing leaders that lie, cheat, steal and generally act like uneducated baboons. These leaders are an influence and by electing them you are telling our youth Caymanian people support their ways.
    – Support the police in fulfilling their mandate to keep social order. Help them with their investigations and quit harbouring and protecting the thugs. These punks may have been good boys once but for some reason they are no longer. You may not trust some of the police officers but there are definitely some good ones you can reach out to.

  6. Jacky Boatside from Oldbush says:

    CHa CHINNNNNNG $$$$$$$ dollars a run now, more money for the PoPo’s 11:35am you are exactly whats wrong with society so rap up in your own importance and relevance absolutely no time for others. You live in a perfect world no need for others either. Instead of talking bout ya self try help others less fortunate eh?? I know one thing you Caymanian!

    • Anonymous says:

      You’re talking like someone on the wrong side of the law. 11:35 is talking the truth and stating the facts. It’s called accountability and that is the problem with the law breakers. They blame everyone but themselves. Our forefathers must be turning over in their graves seeing what we have become.

  7. Anonymous says:

    The problem lies in PARENTING!! Because you’re a single mother does NOT and should NOT abdicate your DUTY to raise responsible, civic-minded, educated future adults and leaders. Only when we RETURN to ensuring that our children are OUR responsibility and adhering to the basic laws of the Bible will there be a change. Proverbs 29 clearly states ” A child left to ITSELF will bring its parent to shame”. We have moved away from what we KNEW to be tried and true in child-rearing to following others whose children have brought shame to the parents and society. There is no quick-fix, just as there is no quick-raising of children. Children are PARENTS responsibility until their 18 YEARS old….. We would be wise to returning to ensuring that at all times we KNOW where our children are and WHO they’re keeping company with. I raised two daughters as a single mom, BUT I was the PARENT and they KNEW there were rules to follow and consequences when those rules were broken. It isn’t rocket-science to figure out that!! Simply learn to be a RESPONSIBLE PARENT or don’t become one!! Children NEED discipline and struture……otherwise we have what we have now……CHAOS and MURDER…….Only when PARENTS feet are held to-the-fire in regards THEIR children will there be a change…..For example when children are brought to Juvenile Court it would be great if the Courts ordered PARENTS to pay the penalties instead of the child…..because as is we send them to Frances Bodden’s Girls Home and Bonaventure Boys Home for society to pay the cost leaving the parents free to create more for the system……Time to turn the tables and make those responsiblle for creating children responibile for their care and upbringing!! We see SO many whose children are left to fend for themselves all decked out with artifical hair and nails instead of using those funds for their children’s care!! Make PARENTS pay and it will change…..

  8. Anonymous says:

    The Premier avoided naming the problems which have created these problems. The breakdown of the family unit as well as the breakdown of the extended family is what needs to be addressed. Children having children and lack of parenting are the root causes for creating a generation of murderers. Massive alcohol and drug problems in the society at large fuel the family breakdown. Domestic violence and sexual abuse are closely related to this breakdown.
    As long as the government remains in denial or gives only lip service to the problems things will only get worse.

    • Anonymous says:

      “Society had failed these young people”. So says Harlon Powery, a West Bay senior policeman. I would like to ask Mr Powery who or what this person or entity called “society” is that it has the ability to “fail” people. Or is it just a sloppy cliché going back to the 1960s to excuse individuals, including parents, from having any responsibility for their or their children’s actions? Why, Mr Powery, does “society fail” some (including these young men killing each other in West Bay) but obviously not all persons?

    • Anonymous says:

      5:46 also the greedy merchants, why do they always leave them out.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Hmmm. Premier McLaughlin has been a senior member of at least two Governments now and a legislator for at least 4 terms. Wonder what he and his fellows have seriously done during that time to address the social issues he references? These did not occur overnight and must have some basis in a failed education system, for which he as directly responsible at least for 4 years.

    Not discounting the fundamental factors of poor parenting and external lifestyle trends/influences but it is disheartening to hear the Premier speak as if these issues have just come to light. Perhaps he has just woken up!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Society conforms to the standards put forth by leaders. Take for example, the abusive behavior by senior government officials and covering their tracks. “F***in Driftwood” is inexcusable and there are are no real consequences. At least gangbangers face jail time, if caught.

    • Anonymous says:

      Oh please! I saw the disgusting behavior of many, when I was growing up. BUT it was up to my mother and father to guide me, not anyone else.

    • Anonymous says:

      Agreed! For a long time now many have seen different sets of rules for the rich, connected, powerful and many of these youth are now “hopeless”!
      The premier, Gov, CoP could help change this by arresting powerful persons who go around bullying others!

    • Fred the Piemaker says:

      According to Austin Harris this morning,”driftwood” is not an offensive term, as driftwood is a “useful commodity”…. “not unlike [expats]”. As you say, society conforms to the examples put before them.

  11. Anonymous says:

    CNS,in the last paragraph should that not read “for every child going astray”?

    CNS: Yes, thanks!

  12. Anonymous says:

    Before I blame the CoP, I will take a good look at the household these “gangsters” come from. The responsibility of raising children to be productive members of society is that of the PARENTS. Even if it is a single parent home. key word HOME. My mother raised two boys by herself. Both of us have never been in trouble with the law, both of us ARE productive, stable people in society.

    My mother never found it necessary to blame Government or rely on them to do her job as a parent. Yeah, my father was a waste of space, but my mother made sure that we were raised to be polar opposite of him.

    Perhaps the problem aren’t the children, but the people who bring them forth into the world.

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