Scott Smith Speaks to Joint Select Committee
Grandson of legendary entertainer Hubert Smith, and son of George Smith, Scott Smith today [Jan 28] offered advice and made comments to the Joint Select Committee.
He said that he had been a drug user from the age of twelve but had been clean since 1994, was working as a self-employed painter, had a four-year-old son, was a regular churchgoer, and, for more than a decade, had been voluntarily offering help and counseling to persons who were trying to break away from their drug addiction habits. He had been giving counseling at Westgate and at the Co-Ed Facility.
Committee member John Barritt [UBP MP] asked Mr Scott if “any other agencies had been involved in his reform?”
Mr Smith said that the key person had been Gwen Robinson. He said that he had started smoking marijuana when he was twelve. He had become an alcoholic by the age of fourteen, but had still gone to church every Saturday. He said that through it all, his father had stayed in his life, and had never stopped trying to change him. Even on his deathbed, his father had ‘questioned him’.
Mr Barritt asked him to elaborate further asking if school had failed him? Mr Smith said that school had not failed him. He said that he was a pupil at Warwick Secondary School when Mr Randolph Horton [MP and Chairman of the Joint Select Committee] was there as Principal. He said that he ‘hated school’ and was too busy ‘getting high’. However he always made sure that “Horton” never had to give him ‘licks.’
Mr Smith went on to say that he believed that all the schools needed more men in stronger roles. He said that strong men like Randy Horton and Dale Butler were needed. That the schools had too many women teachers and women principals.
Lovita Foggo [PLP MP] asked: “What other things were key ingredients in your life that helped you?” Mr Smith said: “The first thing is my father. Always there for me. Perhaps he was there too much.”
Describing himself as a young ‘terrorist’, Mr Smith said that his father had always played a key role. His father had taken in his uncle who was ‘strung out’ and had sought to help him. Mr Smith said that this meant that he saw both sides of life. He went on to say that today, males are reproducing children but cannot care for them.
Mr Smith offered that the solution required a return to basics and that some of this would cost little or nothing. For instance, it cost nothing to take someone to church. It cost nothing to live a right life and do the right thing. He called for stiffer penalties for drug dealers.
He called for more facilities to be provided for people who were struggling to either break out of a habit or get into some kind of more solid life. He gave an example of a fourteen year-old male whose mother left the house saying that she was going for some milk. That, Mr Smith said, was the last that fourteen year-old had ever seen of his mother.
To this day he does not know where she is or what happened to her. Mr Smith said that he had first met this man in prison. He said that this man’s life had seen him bouncing around foster homes, remand facilities, and prison. Mr Smith called for more support for males who were trying to sort themselves out.
this guy is speaking from first had knowledge. you gotta lovit
I knew Hubert and George very well. It take many things for Grandsons and Sons to speak like this.
I commend him for letting others know that where there is a will, at some point there is a way.
May his journey in helping others continue. I am sure his rewards are helping him heal also.
Keep up the great work Scott.
maybe its time to make his grandads song our official island song
i dont think anyone of us know that crap written by the irish person 30 yrs ago
so which one are you refering to as crap….
Hail to Bermuda or Bermuda is another world.
O dear looking for perks
The opportunity is out there for all young black men to start somewhere. We have thousands of jobs being done by foreigners, why are our young men and women to proud to start somewhere?! Who cares if it means you have to bus tables, clean rooms or rake grass. Before we start blaming school, families and looking towards church (all of which are still important), we must tell our youngsters to get a grip, stop being lazy and get off your a&$@s. We keep blaming 400 years of slavery and oppression by the “white man”, yes I said it, “the white man”. Everyone else chooses to use other similar colonial terms to describe “”the white man”, but it should be said. The more that people like Rolph continue to perpetuate this notion of the race card on our young men and women, the more they will soak it up and use it as an excuse to do nothing. I have nothing against guest workers, i think they are the backbone of most of our industries, but why cant Joe Blow from the wall on Court Street be serving hamburgers rather than a foreigner who has to jump through hurdles on live on eggshells just tot make a minimum wage. Our young black men are so frightened of looking inferior to their ace boys that they refuse to make the leap to the real world. At the end of the day, who gives a damn what your drug selling good for nothing “mates” think. Bottom line – be proud, make the leap, even if it’s minimum wage for now. The amount of respect you will gain from your family and community will far outweigh the crap you will get from you alleged “ace boys”. Get a grip young men. Man up and stop playing games.
Can’t say that ‘Hail to Bermuda’ is anything special either. It sounds like so many other National songs. Insert placename ‘here’.
The reason why ‘Bermuda is another world’ did not become the national song is not pretty. If I were a composer I would have been honored to have a piece of my work used as a National song. I would have given it to my home free. No strings attatched.