Monday, January 30, 2023

There are some truths as old as time, and yet, for whatever reason, as a society sometimes we become blind to these basic realities; or, as suggested by the Publisher in last Tuesday’s Amandala, some people in high places have been “playing simple.”

Young men the world over have something in common, and as a young man goes through the adolescent phase, and testosterone levels rise dramatically, he will begin to notice, and be attracted to, and more importantly, will seek to be noticed in a sexual or romantic way, by a member of the opposite sex, or as it is sometimes put, he will get a “crush” on the young lady who seems to fulfil his dreams. We are not experts here, and we will leave the details of such attraction to the social scientists, psychologists, etc. And this dynamic, as it relates to the raging problem of violent crime and murder, which is what we are focussing on right now, is not so much a problem with our females or our homosexual brothers, so they are not being highlighted in this discussion.

The apparent breakdown of our moral fabric among the young, heterosexual male population in the past few decades, as evidenced by the civil war murder rate levels that remain on pace with the start of 2023, has to be considered in the context of those basic realities that we are perhaps only now beginning to seriously address with the proposed “multi-sectoral approach” being promoted by the Department of Youth in conjunction with various ministries of government.

When we were all poor, we still had our squabbles; the crab-in-the-barrel mentality was still in effect, but certain aspects of the situation changed dramatically through the decade of the seventies, starting with skyrocketing inflation following the OPEC Oil Embargo of 1973, when world oil prices quadrupled over six months, and the advent in the late seventies and early eighties of major cocaine trafficking through Belize. With the gap between those who “had it” and those who “didn’t” being suddenly widened, there was at once an increase in tension between members of those two sections of our society, and a sense of being left behind by those struggling in poverty, with the temptation for some to justify illegal actions to “get theirs.”   

In the old school-boy days, when one lucky kid secured a handful of panades, the cry to ward off approaching classmates was “one man eat; nobody bayg;” or it might be, “who bayg no get; who no bayg no want.” It was kind of a fun thing, as often the lucky one would end up sharing with others. But where confrontations did arise over any matter, as may happen occasionally, there was quickly a circle of eager onlookers, as the combatants squared off with fists, until it got too nasty and members of the crowd intervened, or someone got up and ran away.

With the advent of crack cocaine, and the largescale transhipment of compressed marijuana and pure cocaine through Belizean waters and jungles after being dropped off by airplanes from South America, the stakes became much, much higher; and the form of combat much more deadly. A number of Belizeans got in on the action and did well financially, but at great risk, for the plentiful supply of weapons from the drug traffickers meant that fistfights were now a thing of the past; everything, it seems, is now being settled with guns, and not by squaring off like gunslingers did in the movies either, but in cold-blooded, in-the-back, assassination style. Some police officers, politicians and other officials have also been corrupted by the business—the money is too easy, and with the competition for turf in the illegal market, inevitably there are crossfires between members of competing gangs/sellers. So, the young men have been killing each other at an alarming rate. And innocent citizens have also been victims from time to time.

There’s a lot more going on there that we won’t try to go into here and now. But we will say that the numbers don’t lie. Overwhelmingly, it is young adult males, mostly black and brown, that populate the Belize prison and that are there for murder; and the vast majority did not complete high school.

In an article titled “Statement of the problem”, previously printed in 1999, community activist Nuri Muhammad noted that “This gang problem is symptomatic of a structural problem in our socio-economic system.” He requested a re-print of his 1999 article in this past Friday’s Amandala for January 27, 2023 (See page 4), and his conclusion then still applies: “Only a multi-pronged approach will be effective in addressing this problem.”  

While we agree with Nuri’s assessment, there is an old saying among our people that “education is our salvation.” Regardless of how poor one was, up until the 1960s before the double whammy of skyrocketing inflation coupled with the advent of cocaine, which was then compounded with the effects of mass Central American immigration into Belize, before all that, there was still that avenue for every poor family to send their child to school and hope to see him/her rise to the highest heights. A child could go to school barefoot with a slate and slate pencil to begin his “A-B-C” education; and there was at least a slice of bread and a cup of milk if he hadn’t eaten at home. That stopped in the seventies.  Moreover, with the expensive school fees and many expensive books needed, plus uniforms, the empty spaces at primary and high schools were soon filled by new Asian immigrants and/or the children of ambitious, hard-working immigrants from Central America, whose families benefited from farm subsidies and other assistance from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. And even many of those from poor Belizean families who survived the struggle through primary school soon fell by the wayside going into high school due to financial difficulties. Meanwhile, there was the temptation of gang culture and fast money to lure the dropouts into the new generation of gangs, drugs and dangerous living.

But if our authorities had recognized the danger then, might they have taken stern measures to insist that ALL children get a chance to complete primary school, and high school? It’s never too late, and according to reports out of the Leadership Intervention Unit (LIU) and the words from its late leader William Dawson, as well as director Nuri Muhammad and ministers Kareem Musa (National Security), Rodwell Ferguson (Youth & Sports), Francis Fonseca (Education), Kevin Bernard (Health), and others, free education with special emphasis on health and nutrition will be a top priority going forward for all school-age children up to the high school level.   

“The road is long, with many a winding turn…” But if we sincerely want a return to “peace and love” in our little Belize, then the urgency of the above stated pledge cannot be overstated.  School is where it starts.  Multi-everything else follows.

Let’s bring back the golden rule:  School is a must for everyone under 18!