Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe wants people to come together and hold a march against crime. Speaking in the House of Assembly, he asked when Bahamians will “join forces” and make a strong statement against the high levels of violence on our streets.
“In case we haven’t noticed, or we’ve just accepted it, that we are losing our sons and daughters, we’re losing some professionals. We’re losing some teachers. We’re losing and God is calling on us to do something about it. Yet we’re sitting down like it’s all cool. It’s not all cool, Mr. Speaker and it should not be considered as the norm or expected,” he said.
Are we acting as if everything is fine? According to the chairman of Wilchcombe’s party, the opposite is true. Bradley Roberts, responding to Monday’s National Review article, claimed the government has taken several important steps in the fight against crime.
“In its current term the Christie government has moved quickly to introduce saturation patrols, shock treatment, school-based policing, amendments to the Police Act, prison reform, Urban Renewal 2.0., Sandy Bottom, the Trafficking in Persons (TIPS) initiative, Marco’s Law, the sex offender registry, welfare reform (R.I.S.E.), community walkabouts by the national security minister, the anti-gang initiative and supporting legislation, amendments to the criminal procedure and penal codes, the Swift Justice Initiative, integrated justice software, the Citizen Security and Justice Program, a Department of Corrections grant from the IDB for rehabilitation, re-staffing of armed forces with more than 1,000 recruits to date and the proposed Parental Responsibility Bill,” he said.
The obvious response to Roberts is that if an administration's solutions to a particular problem fail to produce results, they were either the wrong solutions to begin with, or they were implemented improperly. Of course, Wilchcombe was referring to all Bahamians, not just the government. The answer to his question is that we will not come together as a people to stand up for justice until our complex relationship with criminal behavior at all levels of society is resolved.
For years, the official line has been that crime is committed by small groups of “bad apples” who threaten to ruin an otherwise honest barrel. The truth is much more complex. From top to bottom, members of this society have learned over the years how to reap benefits and advantages by acting outside the law. In many cases the offenses are small and trifling, viewed as a necessary part of day-to-day survival. In others they are gratuitous and cynical, committed by those in positions of power and influence, simply because they know they can get away with it.
The first group often use the second as an example: If the high and mighty can act outside the law, why can’t we all? Put simply, we have become a people who take offense at criminal behavior when it affects us negatively, but support it when it works in our favor. Until we all can manage to take a long, serious look in the mirror a collaborative approach to dealing with crime will continue to elude us.
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