We definitely have to do something to save our youths
By Earle Clarke
 

The cancer of crime has been festering for very long. All of us have witnessed its beginning, its spread and its manifestation. We are all alarmed now, because we believed that, by some miracle, it would not affect us.
My granny used to say “When your neighbor’s house is on fire, begin to wet yours so that yours would not be burnt.” Don’t await the time when your house begins to burn to start throwing water on it.

This is what we are now doing. We are throwing water when the house has already caught fire. For donkey years, we went to the cinema we saw the cowboys shooting down Indians and we never shed a bit of sympathy for them. We applauded the cowboys. At that time we were totally unaware that our minds were being peppered with propaganda that the Indians were bad people and had to be eliminated from their own lands by guns and treachery.

We went on further to glorify the Jesse James and the other robbers when they robbed the banks. None of us uttered a word of condemnation. They were our heroes. Our children came away believing that the Jesse James and others of that ilk were heroes and that they could emulate them with guns made from wood or board.
The cancer of gun violence was manifesting itself, but we tended to ignore it.

At Christmas time, we found it humorous to give our children presents in the form of guns and, we not only picked out the little guns, we bought the most ominous looking ones to present to our children, never for one moment stopping to think that the makers of these toy guns were programming the minds of our children to love guns and to believe that the gun was the thing to have, for, as long as you have the biggest ones, you are the top man in the community.

The cancer of crime and the love for guns were manifesting themselves; we are the instigators of this culture of guns. We initiated   that love when we presented toy guns to them.

On the TV shows, we become bored when there is no action. We want to see the Texas Rangers where all conflicts are settled through the use of guns. Our children join us and you can feel them anticipating the next move of the rangers.
All along, we are imprinting upon their young minds that all conflicts are settled by the use of the gun. When our sons use guns to kill, maim and rob, members of the National Rifle Association in America, become rich, because they have vested interests in the manufacture of arms and ammunition.

President John F Kennedy of the United States of America was assassinated in 1961 in America itself. The film makers decided that they would cease portraying violent films on the screens. This never happened before because persons with vested interests in America lobbied against it.

If the movie makers were to stop the showing of gun related activities on the screen the young people would lose interest for the love of guns and the business of manufacturing guns would lose money.

They continued to manufacture guns and, so, in 1965, Martin Luther King was gunned down. The cancer of guns was manifesting itself. The cancer of crime and violence was manifesting itself, but there were powerful forces which choose to willfully ignore it. And so, the cancer kept spreading and spreading until there is no cure for it now. It manifested itself again when Robert Kennedy was gunned down in a hotel in Los Angeles 1968. This happened at a time when the people of Vietnam were brutally murdered by forces they did not molest.

How can we speak to our youngsters about crime and guns, when, everyday, the cancer of crime guns, violence, keeps manifesting itself? On March 20, 2003 Iraq was invaded by the United States of America used to trumpet support for the invasion, despite the fact that the United Nations, the world body was against such moves. 

We all know the story about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction which he was willing to use in a matter of minutes; we all also know that the U.N. inspectors reported that here were no weapons of mass destruction found. Yet, the United States defied the world body and invaded Iraq.

Is it any wonder, dear reader, that our youngsters are so defiant of the law why are they so lawless? Can we blame them, when the International leaders pay scant respect for international law? Small vulnerable Nations which were against the war, had to stifle their consciences and support the war. They need the American tourists bolster to their Tourism Industry so they sold their souls. Isn’t this the same thing the gang leader does to those school dropouts who do not possess the inner strength to say “no” to the leaders of the gangs when they are approached? How then can we complain about gang violence and the creation of gangs when our International leader are created the same gangs in order to under take their nefarious activities?

Dear reader, the United States of America acted as a bully, because they were armed with more sophisticated weapons than Iraq. Isn’t this the kind of behaviour that is being exhibited by our youths of today? The message is: he who holds the bigger gun is the boss. Is the action displayed by the leaders of America any better than young man arming himself with a sophisticated weapon and holding people at ransom? It is any different to one of our young people holding a sophisticated weapon to our heads and demanding us to give up what we have worked too hard to achieve for the week or month? Violence is violence and we must get up and speak out about it.

No respect for international law, because we are both militarily strong and economically powerful. So, might become right, and, because we are mightifully strong economically, we can do what we want to do and no man dare put us in our place. I am above the law and none of you can do me anything at all. If you don’t like what I do, all you can do is talk. Doesn’t this sound like some of our youngsters? We often wonder how come they are so defiant, but isn’t this attitude trickling down from our international leaders to our youngsters?

We talk about guns and violence. In keeping silent, we have allowed might to become right. And we have sent the wrong message to our youngsters that, once they have the biggest gun, they are the mighty champion. To be continued.