Social Justice Bermuda: Address Root Causes
Social Justice Bermuda said they were shocked and dismayed by the multiple shootings and double homicide at Robin Hood, and said that Bermuda “must address the root causes of gangs.”
This follows after the shooting at Robin Hood in which two men — Micah Davis and Ayinde Eve — were murdered and two other people were also shot. The suspects fired over 20 rounds of ammunition in what the police said was a gang related incident.
A spokesperson said, “Social Justice Bermuda was, like most of us, shocked and dismayed to learn of the multiple shootings and subsequent double homicide at Robin Hood on Tuesday evening. We join our community in mourning the lives of these young men, and offer our deepest condolences to those who loved them.
“We would like to add our voices to those highlighting that our country must address the root causes of gangs in Bermuda: structural inequality. This remains the root cause of much tragedy and injustice in our island home.
“At the same time, we feel the need to warn against a reactionary mentality in response to this tragedy. Knee-jerk reactions and draconian policies will not solve our problems. If anything they will make things worse – at best just sweep the problems under the carpet until they emerge once more, more often than not worse than before.
“Nor should we seek to contain violence to areas where they consider it ‘acceptable’, as we see in comments such as: “What I think is of concern is that the problem is no longer back of town. You’re dealing with an element that knows no boundaries.”
“This thinking betrays a prejudice that violence is okay ‘there’ but not okay ‘here’. We must agree that such violence is not okay anywhere on our 21 square miles.
“So what next? No part of our community is without ways to help. Pledge to get engaged with the young people in your life and provide support, mentorship and love. Donate to organisations whose programmes address systemic inequality and support young people.
“As a community, pressure our leadership to have a real conversation about how to address the root cause:
- - The introduction of a living wage.
- - An end to the war on drugs and an adoption of the Portuguese approach to drugs as a public health issue.
- - The introduction of a progressive tax system that taxes all sources of wealth.
- - An investment in social welfare services to address structural inequalities.
- - The payment of reparations for slavery and segregation.
- - An investment in rehabilitation services to reduce recidivism.
“We must act now to stem the rising tide of violence and antisocial behavior that’s been intensified by the pandemic induced recession.”
How about suggesting that people refrain from having children until they are married, and have somewhere to live and a reliable and legal income?
Wouldn’t that improve things over the coming 20 years or so?
Very true. The collapse of the family and personal responsibility and self respect has everything to do with this issue. Girls thinking having a baby makes her a woman, or to have a baby she has someone to love her, or by not having a baby is a stigma. Add in multiple babies with multiple fathers and the crisis escalates. The babies grow up but the girls want to go clubbing and enjoy life. At least in one of the 2 Bermuda’s.
Should also have included the other half of the problem, the dead beat dads. Status and egos inflated by the number of baby mamas they can boast about. No wonder the kids have kids and there is no parental guidance as to rules and laws. SJB need to concentrate on these issues which are the root cause of the problem, not their list.
“…until they are married”
Your chosen government is currently groveling at the feet of your white British overlords, begging them for the opportunity to discriminate against a very small section of Bermudian society, preventing marriage.
Not my ‘chosen government’. Not by a long way.
And we don’t have ‘white British overlords’. Every mistake we make is our’s alone.
You need to let the majority know that.
This is incorrect. Structural inequality has nothing to do with these shootings and gang violence and EVERYTHING to do with the failures in the home. Put fathers back in the home and let’s get our houses into order. Throwing money at the problem through these social welfare programs will have zero effect if the proper foundation is not there, as has been evidenced over decades of these failed programs.
Totally agree with you on that. It’s the ‘big conversation’ that really needs to be had but of course no-one wants to go near it.
If the roots of this were based in some sort of financial and societal inequities we’d have been seeing it in the bad old days before de-segregation when there really were ‘inequities’.
And interestingly , back then the prison population was predominantly white .
With the ‘territorial’ aspect to it I often wonder if these people’s heads were filled with wondrous stories of the younger days of their great grandparents where guys from ‘Bay’ weren’t allowed in Somerset to date ‘their’ women or Warwick guys going to Crawl for the same reasons , etc.
Absolutely 100% correct .In most cases as a child you become what your parents, single parent or guardian does in front of you or allows and is not aware that they have put you in a negative environment .
A persons structural or financial status whether unequal or not is no excuse for the proper moral upbringing of their children.
Hmmmmmm, sounds like there has been some cutting and pasting.
And to add ..
“You’re dealing with an element that knows no boundaries.”
This may rock some people in their booties but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out .
Any observant person would have recognized them a long time ago just by the way they conduct themselves on the roads. No laws or boundaries for them whatsoever , attracting attention to themselves all the while they’re carrying drugs and weapons .
So the 100 and odd k being paid the the pastor isn’t working
It’s more than obvious the pastor is being paid for nothing. He has produced zero results. Another friends and family waste of our tax money. Time to make some serious decisions Mr Premier us tax payers are not happy.
What a load of old bollocks. Essentially give them money, tell them it’s everyone else’s fault except theirs, absolve them from responsibility.
Are you kidding me? Did anyone see the video of gang fighting that did the rounds on social media? It was pathetic.