BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - EIGHT murders in nine-and-a-half weeks have outraged residents of St. Kitts, where predominantly very young men have been gunned down in drive-bys, in city and country streets, and even in an open shop by a masked assailant.
Two of the shocking incidents took place in early afternoon. Six out of eight occurred before 10:00 p.m.
The average age of the murdered men – all of whom have not been linked to gangs – is 30.6. However, when the ages are totalled for the four murdered men understood to have been affiliated with gangs, the average declines to 18.5 years old.
“Our intelligence indicated several months ago that the root cause of the homicides in this country – that have been causing this Federation so much concern – is in fact gang-based,” said Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas in a dire pronouncement hours after the drive-by double murder of Akimba ‘Oil’ Whyte (19) and Kwesi Twells (20) on Wednesday, March 4.
The two young men had made murder victims number six and number seven for 2009.
An investigation undertaken by SKNVibes paints a grim picture of gang culture; one that is marred by nasty turf wars, petty grudges that lead to killings then more killings in the name of revenge, and shattered teenaged lives.
Some of these teenage boys, who never attained rites of passage such as graduating from high school and getting a driver’s license, left behind stories of alleged neglect, maternal abandonment, familial acceptance and enablement of the gang culture, lost opportunities, and squandered brilliance. In high school, teachers and guidance counsellors reached out to these adolescents who acted out and displayed truancy, but the pull of negative peer pressure proved too great a drug. The details that emerge suggest they used gang membership as an elixir to heal the psychological remnants of childhood wounds, or as a tonic that infused vigour into their lives and created an avenue to release pent-up anger as well as transfer long-held feelings of powerlessness to those they bullied.
“That’s the only way they could get respect because they don’t excel in school,” said Dr. Garfield Alexander. “They don’t excel in sports per se and they don’t get any respect until people fear them. So when they get the respect, that’s powerful.”
The 32-year-old medical doctor returned from Cuba in 2005 and became part of the core group of advisors for a scholarship fund doled out by the Basseterre High School Reunion Class of 1973. When Dr. Alexander was in high school, he was a beneficiary of that scholarship programme. So, too, was Akimba ‘Oil’ Whyte.
He had the natural brilliance to excel in school
According to people in the school system, who want to remain unnamed, Whyte had the “natural brilliance” to excel in school. He took Biology, Chemistry, and Physics up to Fifth Form.
Akimba, though, was an underachiever. For instance, he received a Grade 4 in CXC Chemistry. “If he was able to have the conditions like the average student, definitely he was going to get a 1 because that’s the kind of child he was,” said a teacher, who spoke glowingly about Akimba, even remarking that there was something special about him.
“He was brilliant! We worked with him and he just kept getting into trouble, getting into trouble,” said Dr. Alexander about the attempts of the Board that gave Akimba the scholarship. “Until the end, the Board, everybody was up in arms saying, ‘Oh no, maybe we just need to let him go.’ Victor Williams was the only one saying yes [to keep him on],” he added.
Victor Williams, the Chairman of the Board since 1990, explained that the Reunion Class of 1973 gave Akimba Whyte a scholarship about eight or nine years ago. “We look for very, very poor children who display academic promise and we basically remove the factor of poverty by giving them everything that they need, not want. This goes beyond books and uniforms. If they need to be in a better environment, we arrange to get them in a better environment. If they need medical assistance, we give them medical assistance. We basically become their extended family,” said Williams.
There was no family structure in place
According to Williams, having realised “there wasn’t a family structure in place” for Whyte to thrive, the Board attempted to provide him with stability and give him something that he never got, which was love. For instance, he would eat his meals around the table with a board member and that person’s family. The Chairman also kept in constant contact with the young man, having an avuncular relationship with him. “I was basically like his Uncle Victor who was a disciplinarian, but who also gave love and who wanted the best for him,” said Williams.
By all accounts, Akimba Whyte received encouragement all around, not only from the people who disbursed the scholarship but by the school system.
There were teachers who encouraged him. According to one teacher, there were even high school teachers who knew Akimba since he was in primary school, so they paid special attention to him, even giving him money to buy food and snacks.
“You could tell that at one stage in his life he was nutritionally deficient and he wasn’t growing at the normal pace that he should,” said the teacher. “So that could have hindered him in some ways. But when he started maybe eating better and so on, you did see an improvement.”
Akimba’s behaviour was another story.
Williams explained that he went to Akimba’s school to represent him on a number of occasions when the young man got into trouble for “acting up”.
I did not want to give up on him like that
“It was at that point that the Committee decided that we should withdraw the scholarship,” said Williams. The Chairman said he made a passionate appeal to the members for them to give Akimba another chance. “I did not want to give up on him like that.”
The Board allowed Akimba to keep his scholarship. “We gave him the opportunity to repeat Fifth Form, so we did not take the scholarship away from him. The scholarship ended because he was not able to go on to Sixth Form.” Akimba did not qualify to go on to “Sixth Form”, which is the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College.
“He seemed to have gotten deeper and deeper into gangs,” said Mr. Williams. “Not only that, he seemed to have been able to influence other people who were in gangs, so I don’t know what level in a gang structure he could have been in.”
He wanted a certain amount of power for himself
Williams added that, “The fact that he resorted to a gang arrangement suggested to me that he wanted a certain amount of power for himself.”
This need for power could have stemmed from a sense of powerlessness and loneliness that manifested through Akimba’s shyness. According to the teacher, Akimba retreated into a shell after at least two very close relatives the teacher knew of left him to go abroad.
In time, another migration would compound Akimba’s loneliness, according to the teacher. “There was this teacher who used to teach him at primary school and who always used to be there for him, but he too left eventually. He was the one who really knew the potential he had.”
In response to the statement, “This must have made him sad,” the teacher said, matter-of-factly, “I think the greatest blow is when your parents are not there.”
The Board, however, was always there for him. “We had done enough for him to realise that if he wanted to make a change we would always be there, but he simply chose not to,” said Williams
He said he hopes other students, who are at risk of accepting the gang culture and are impressed by it, would realise that joining a gang is not an acceptable route to follow.
“I’m hoping that his death is not in vain, but his death will help some of them to recognise that that particular lifestyle is not the best lifestyle for any individual.”
He basically lived a double life
“He basically lived a double life,” said Williams of Akimba Whyte.When speaking about alleged gang members, people who know them well enough acknowledge the same thing.
There are incidents where the face they show to one person is the complete opposite of that which another person sees. This explains the vast polarisation that writing or speaking about one of them spurs. For every one person who describes these young men as brilliant, intelligent, quiet, and shy, you will find the same amount – and even more people – who say that they are just plain bad.
It is fair to say that Dr. Garfield Alexander tries to look past all of that.
On the wall in his office is a Certificate of Appreciation, which reads: This certificate is awarded to Dr. Garfield Alexander in recognition of his invaluable service and commitment to the Basseterre High School. It is dated November 29, 2007.
In 2007, Dr. Alexander started a basketball programme at the Basseterre High School. They practiced three times per week.
The doctor said the idea was to target at-risk kids.
Dr. Alexander said that, “The purpose of it was to get them into a group-organised sport where they would have to understand that they have to rely on each other and get that team spirit; a lot of the things that they weren’t getting at home. I really wanted that for the time they were with me – the two hours they were playing – they would be away from all the negative influences and all the negative stuff they were doing.”
As it happened, he said at least five team members were young men affiliated with gangs. “Most of the fellows were from blue,” said Dr. Alexander.
Jusan ‘Jusbo’ Hendricks, who was shot and killed on Tuesday, February 24, played on the team.
Dr. Alexander had known Jusan before; both of them had grown up in the McKnight neighbourhood.
“He was hanging out with these ‘fellas’ and he was having some problems in terms of going to classes,” said Dr. Alexander about Jusan’s situation.
He maintains that Jusan never failed to be respectful toward him.
“I guess what made him stand out (pause); these kids are hard to deal with,” explained Dr. Alexander. “I have zero tolerance for people speaking to me in a certain way. I never had that problem with him. Sometimes he wouldn’t even make eye contact. He was always mild-mannered. He respectfully always called me ‘Doc.’ He never called me Garfield. Certain problems I would have with them, I never had with him. I never had discipline problems with him, at all, at all,” said Dr. Alexander.
Other authority figures whom Jusan Hendricks interacted with would say something different.
One afternoon, Dr. Alexander got called to the Mary Charles Hospital so he left one of the teachers who had been assisting with the basketball programme in charge.
“I came back and he said Jusan swore after him and called him a pu**y and I was shocked. I got him to apologise,” he said, quickly adding, “Not that I thought the teacher was telling a lie on him, but I was shocked because I never had that problem with him.”
Asked “How did you become a ‘Special Friend’?” – in reference to the designation that Dr. Alexander received in Jusan’s funeral booklet – he responded, “I guess because he was accustomed to have people give up on him, and I just never gave up on him.”
Half of what he was wasn’t him
Dr. Alexander continued: “Initially, I would talk to him about the smoking. I’m of the opinion that everybody has a role to play. Especially in this case, it was hard for him to crawl out of that hole because half of the hole he didn’t dig it himself. Half of what he was wasn’t him.
“Studies have shown that your earliest memories are going to be from about two or three. From that age, you start seeing the interaction that your parents have with other people, with you. You already start absorbing that stuff, so before you’re able to reach high school level and people are trying to label you, you’ve already been made,” the doctor said.
From the account of his mother’s tribute to him, which was published in the funeral booklet, they had a close relationship. No one would ever know the depth of it, but her tribute offers a revealing glimpse into their relationship. There are tones of overindulgence and nonchalance on her part, and a confidence on his, knowing that perhaps he would always be a ‘Momma’s Boy’.
An excerpt reads: “He would normally ask me if I was safe and would tell me that he is ‘having a drink.’ I would then ask him if he was hungry and he would reply ‘You want give me something nuh? as he smiled. Making jokes with him, I would normally asked [sic] him ‘You don’t want a job?’ then reach for my purse and ask him how much money he needed to buy something to eat. It was always ‘A gon take a ten.’, although sometimes he would say a twenty…Ju, you don’t know the hole you left in my heart knowing that you would not be around for me to take care of you and for you to see your sister grow up.”
Her love for Jusan is evident, but the tone suggests that there were no expectations for her son to earn his keep; while she had the strength she would support him, and that was fine with her.
Roberts has been criticised roundly by people who have sent in comments to various media outlets, including SKNVibes. The charge is she condoned his lifestyle and the gang culture. They point to the blue colour scheme at his funeral.
SKNVibes spoke with Newrish Nital on Saturday, March 7, two days after Jusan’s funeral. Nital, a family member, delivered the eulogy that was peppered with the refrain: Jusan had potential.
He, like Jusan’s mother, attributes the choice of colour scheme to his abiding love for blue. “If you look at pictures of Jusan from a baby coming up, there was a lot of blue. It could come from the fact that the family loved blue, and she dressed her son in blue,” said Nital.
All these guys are subsidised by their mothers
About Jusan’s mother, Dr. Alexander disclosed that, “She just bought a PlayStation 3 for him and that was basically to try to lure him back home.”
Dr. Alexander gave SKNVibes insight into what he has inferred from the lives of young men with gang affiliation. He did so without naming anyone specifically.
“For most of the members, there’s no financial gain in being part of the gang,” said Dr. Alexander. “There’s only perceived respect or acceptance and love, which they don’t get from their families.”
Dr. Alexander added that, “All these guys are still subsidised by their mothers. They might be gone for three or four days and when they get back in the house their mothers might make a little bit of noise, but at the end of it there’s still food for them on the table.”
They would get defensive, or just lock you out
Dr. Alexander said he was not permissive towards the young men he came into contact with; he was neither judgmental. He was just there for them.
“You wouldn’t find that I would be there trying to preach to them because they would be getting that from the teachers all the time and they rebut that. They reject that. If you tried to speak to them about the gang, usually they would get defensive, or they would just lock you out,” he said.
Jusan’s driving instructor and a 14-year veteran police officer, Ramonge Bassue-Benjamin aka ‘Shaq’ said he knew his young student was affiliated with a gang, but he never broached the topic with him because he did not want to “cross that line.” Officer Benjamin said he did not want to make Jusan feel uncomfortable.
It appears that the two young men shared a mutual respect. When Officer Benjamin was Jusan’s age, he joined the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force. Thirty-two-year-old Benjamin is now a driver for Prime Minister Dr. Douglas.
“His demeanour struck me because even though he couldn’t get in the parallel parking the first time, he tried,” said his instructor. “Some students get very frustrated, but Jusan never got frustrated.”
Officer Benjamin added, “He just said, ‘Let me do that again, De Boss’ and he had another go at it. I pointed out certain things to him and he got it the second time. Then I told him ‘Excellent!’ I asked him to do it again without me saying anything this time. He went into it and he got in [the space].”
Jusan Hendricks died from gunshot wounds a week before he was to make a second attempt to get his driver’s license.
His driving instructor recalled the day he took him out on the road for their first session. It was Sunday, January 18 around 1:00 p.m.
Jusan said, “Everyone wants to know when I’m going to get my license,” recalled Officer Benjamin.
People have to start opening their eyes
For young men and women lured to gang life by the hope of securing a sense of control and community, today’s state of affairs is a sad wake-up call.
The word on the street is that persons within gangs, who are supposed to be looking out for one another, are not as close-knit as they used to be. There is talk that the recent spate of violence is a very different kind of animal. Whereas, in the past, it had more to do with colour against colour, the word on the street is that there is in-fighting within gangs. People are saying that it revolves around a piece of jewellery.
“People have to start opening their eyes,” said Dr. Alexander. “Death does not impact them the way it impacts us. If you go up to the cemetery after these funerals, you’ll see that it’s a big celebration. You died for the struggle, they think.”
The question is: How can we intervene in the lives of troubled youth with boundless potential, before they become so much indoctrinated into gang culture and so far gone? The next installment of “On the Spot” – Friday, March 27 – will explore initiatives by the school system and business professionals to counter the gang culture.
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