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Crime does not discriminate. It does not care who you vote for or if you are black or brown, young or old, rich or poor. It will take something from you. If we are truly interested in solving crime, we must first accept that it will take time to fix, and that we will have to do one simple thing to start fixing it now. We need to change our mindset about crime.

Crime and the people who commit them are created by things like poverty, unstable political conditions, unemployment, and race hate. Whether it’s a poor boy without a choice or a greedy man with a choice, these conditions create the perfect breeding ground for crime. Our leaders have been in this battle long enough to know what doesn’t work, it’s time to toss those things and move forward with what works.

Last year bandits broke into my elder aunt’s house. She was home alone. They beat her, tied her arms and legs, stuffed a towel in her mouth and threatened to kill her. I cannot imagine how terrified she was, lying there, watching them tear her house apart and waiting to see what they would do to her. Would they kill her? Would they rape her? Would they do both? Can you imagine the terror she felt?

The bandits were young men from right around our village. They were never picked up by the police and every time my family sees one of them passing along the street, I can see anger flash in their eyes. For a while my uncle, my brother, my cousins, they struggled with that anger. I’ve never asked my aunt how she felt about it. I didn’t know how to ask and listen without becoming angry and feeling hate towards these teenagers.

This is not the first time my family was terrorized by bandits. It has happened to us at least five times. After these violent and traumatic incidents, it’s natural to be angry and it’s hard to not let that anger consume you and turn into hate. And when you’re in that state of mind, it’s hard to think about anything other than hurting the people who hurt you and those you love. But I’ve learned that hate and anger do not solve big things like crime. They prevent us from seeing the real problem.

What if you were one of the many Guyanese who live in poverty and your son were a criminal? What if he were one of the young bandits that broke into my aunt’s house? What if someone else had been there with her and they’d shot one of these bandits? Suppose it were your son who’d been shot and he died? Who would be the victim in this? Would it only be my innocent aunt? Or would it be your son who never had a chance to choose another path? And what would be lost? My aunt lost money. You would have lost your son. Your son lost his life. And then there is one cost we often forget, the cost to our country. Guyana would have lost a bit of its future that could have had the potential to be something good, if life were different for you and your son.

I am not looking at this in terms of right and wrong. I am not saying it is right or wrong to hate and kill a bandit. I am not saying that it is right or wrong for a youth who doesn’t think there is another path to survival to become a criminal. Right and wrong will only lead to an endless buse-out. Guyana has had enough of these. Why else do you think we can’t seem to solve any of our problems?

I am concerned about what works and what doesn’t work. It is clear that actions by government, regardless of which party is in power, have not been enough to address poverty, unemployment and race hate. It is clear that actions or lack of actions by other powerful leaders, by communities, by churches, by anyone who has the potential to make a difference have not worked as well as we’d like. It is time to demand better from all our leaders and to do better because we know better.

Without Wax,

Sara

 

Featured Image: Stabroek News

 

Disclaimer:

This article contains the personal views of the author and is in no way connected with any institution or group with which she may be affiliated.

 

A note from the Author:

Given the custom by party loyalists to misrepresent and misuse any type of political commentary to support their own positions, I feel that it is necessary to borrow the following from Thomas Paine (an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary) with whose work I became acquainted as a student of History at the University of Guyana:

Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the Public, as the Object for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the Woman. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That she is unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.

Craig Village, East Bank Demerara, June 1, 2019

Have a question or require further information? You can email me at sarabharrat@gmail.com