Violence begets violence.

by Shamario Walkes

In recent times the youth have come to the forefront in matters of gun violence. Curbing the flow of this epidemic requires a historic, layered discussion that must be deconstructed to enable a philosophical approach to solving the problem of the scourge that is gun violence within our society. Time is without change. Thus, it is imperative for me, as representative of the youth, to conjure a philosophical solution to what has become a physical epidemic. Although several promising approaches have gained broader adoption in recent years, the problem of youth gun violence still remains stagnant and has yet to be solved. This essay examines the key drivers of community firearm violence and reviews promising strategies to reverse those conditions, including community violence intervention programs and place-based and structural interventions.

With its problem evolving from its past peripheral to the present-day spike this is, alarmingly, laying the base for something much more complex. Nonetheless, we remain hopeful that firearm violence can decline with the incorporation of a few analysis approaches and act to address this situation of youth gun violence. This has come to be seen as inextricably linked to poor and marginalized neighborhoods within the social economy of Caribbean islands. As a result, our Caribbean system too often overlooks diverse approaches in addressing gun violence. So, as a young person, in view of this reality, I must analyze why this is such a problem, while deconstructing its complex and layered overtones within all facets of society.

Several promising approaches have gained adoption in recent years. However, these approaches are much better tailored and refined to the social dynamics that conjure most firearm violence within Caribbean media and its rates. Thus, despite the many setbacks of the legal institutions, progress is being made, especially in the most impacted communities. In fact, this trend can not only be seen within Barbados and the wider Caribbean but by extension the world as a whole. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus primarily on Barbados, where community firearm violence has truly shaped social norms within its barriers.

"Barbados has a homicide rate of 11.3 per I 00,000 population as of 20 I 9. The rate of gun-related homicides tends to be higher among young males aged between 20 and 29 years old. The clearance rate for gun-related homicides is 45%, which is lower than that of other homicide weapons and methods. This suggests that Barbados needs to look at the underlying factors for the increase in gun related crime, particularly among the youth. Such was the message from Democratic Labour Party (OLP) member Rasheed Belgrave on Sunday, 12th November, during a public meeting at Pine Plantation Road, Collymore Rock, St Michael. He said it was "unfair" to criticize young men for choosing the path of violence without first acknowledging the circumstances that would cause them to do so. He furthers his argument by asking the question, "So young people would wake up one morning and decide to shoot people? Or did something happen that caused them to react in this manner? Are there jobs circulating for them? No. Is there a source of income for them apart from (those offered by) the crime boss in their respective communities giving them handouts? No." Hence, he argued" how can you then expect to quell gun violence when there are no alternatives?" Implicit in Belgrave's argument is the notion that the economic atmosphere has hardly improved for present day youth so as to enable a shift from violence to productivity. It is then important to adduce the idea that gun violence amongst the youth is fundamentally anchored in the notion of survival. Thus, a system-based skill program can be implemented by the government to diversify what has traditionally been a monocultural education system.

The secondary school base system, just like any education system, was developed to suit more of book learning rather than to improve students’ skills such as: art, farming, and even physical education. Thus, when students do not fit in with this academic module, they gravitate towards other areas, which unfortunately may lead to a world of guns and violence. Thus, a cyclical system is perpetuated. If such systems were slightly altered with the inclusion of skill-based subjects, I strongly believe that the cycle of youth entangled in gun violence would decline and perhaps in years' time, become negligible. According to an article in Barbadostoday.bb by then Second Vice President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers' Union (BSTU), Leslie Lett such an analysis would likely reveal dangerous links between the structure of the education system and the alarming disregard for authority. The report also called on the Ministry of Education to stop separating children based on their grades in the Common Entrance Examination. Instead, it proposed alterations to the education system, which would maximize the potential of students with varying abilities, providing all with the opportunity to be successful.

However, this approach has seemingly fallen upon deaf ears, as schools have still engaged with the whole notion of grade-based systems. Over a short period of time schools like, Frederick Smith Secondary School, The Daryll Jordan Secondary School and others have adopted such skill-based programs and the resultant was that students started coming from all over the island to enhance their skills in fields as varied as cosmetology and woodwork. As a student of the Alexandra school which traditionally has focused on a grade-based system! have witnessed first-hand the demand for more skill-based tuition. In a Geography class one of my classmates asked why "The Alexandra School did not do woodwork and metalwork at the sixth form level. He went on to lament his frustration and concluded that he "would want to stay at Alexandra but (regrets that) their sixth form program just does not offer more of a skills training."

This is not to suggest that the educational system is solely responsible for the spate of gun related violence that exists today. The drivers of firearm violence are complex and interrelated. Most individuals who perpetuate firearm violence have previously experienced repeated exposure to violence whether as a victim or as a witness. Affiliating with peers makes some young people feel safer, but these social links can create obligations to retaliate when a friend is assaulted. Community members rally to keep young people safe, but this task is especially challenging in places deprived of resources such as: high-quality parks, schools and jobs. An abundance of hazards, open areas, dilapidated housing, blocks, all combine, heavily, in the contribution of violent patterns within certain communities. Also, they hinder positive social interactions as they reinforce the idea/notion of violence and thus forming the atmosphere that appears to give rise to constant police patrol which seems to lead to brutality against young, black men in particular.

While firearm violence does occur in neighborhoods with racial and economic privilege, it occurs chronically in neighborhoods characterized by resource gaps. Persons within such communities offer a more critical lens at the situation, and thus present visible alternatives in these communities where police trust is very low. It is often suggested that gun-based violence is inextricably linked to the mistrust between police and youth within marginalized inner cities. According toy­stops.com, "Young people, particularly from larger cities and deprived areas, have a troubled relationship with the police that has been well and often documented and mis- documented". Also, according to Wikipedia.com the "2011 riots in England (in response) to the death of Mark Duggan, a local black man who was shot dead by police on 4 August" being the perfect example.

It is convenient to sweep the complex tensions between social control, protection and power under the carpet when blame needs to be laid, but yet when you ask them, young people can articulate with amazing discernment how these situations ignite and eventually com bust. And it is in our collective interest to listen according to the article published by y-stops.com. The article suggests that for "young people aged 9-22 years old, this mistrust has been rooted in the personal interactions they have had with police officers. At least 25% of all stops and searches are conducted on under 17s. Their stories highlight not only the problems that young people face in these interactions but also how this sets in motion a broader chain of social problems through fear, social exclusion. This ultimately leads to the violence with which the wider society is ultimately forced to confront. When young people ask for explanations but do not get them; are fed lies and misinterpretations of the law; are harassed by the same officer day in and day out and any efforts to exercise their rights are read as cockiness, it is no wonder they wind up feeling like the powerless victims of unstoppable bullies." If not fixed, the cyclical mistrust strained from generation to generation, and the consistency of riots as a result of the same, would therefore become normalized within society. Inevitably, ethnic movements such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, would thus be made stronger.

The Black Lives Matter Movement was not just a time of inducing change but it was also a time from which young people were fed the truth. The world came to a halt at the sight of a video circulating the internet, through which many saw the struggle of being black and coming into direct contact with systems though designed to protect society did not protect the black man. For George Floyd this was the case of a police directly contradicting protection and instead using his authoritarian figure to oppress a black man. The police officer in question, Derek Chauvin, can be seen with his foot kneeling upon the neck of George Floyd as he was on the ground helplessly dying from suffocation of such force upon his neck. As the viewer endured the last few seconds of the clip, so too did George Floyd suffer through the last few seconds of his life.

With all this in mind it is thus certain that youth gun violence is not only inextricably linked to the act of survival, but also surviving through a world of systemic racism. The song "Black Boys on Mopeds'' by Sinead O'Connor carves the idea of a world where this structure is constantly placed upon young black boys. The title in and of itself is literal showcasing black boys riding their bikes. It begins with O'Connor's voice rendering an acapella version of the first verse. However, as the guitar strings start to play, the listener is thus carried through the metaphorical nuance to the title. As the young black boys are riding, the guitar strumming mirrors that these boys are, in fact, being chased as they ride through in neighborhoods where they are not welcomed. In fact, they are required to run away, presumably from the cops. The first line is sung," Margaret Thatcher on TV/ Shocked by the deaths that took place in Beijing. It seems strange that she should be offended. The same orders are given by her." This four-line stanza showcases the notion of racism as a constant battle young black men must face and is thus linked to the aftermath of the death of Col in Roach, a young black man who died in mysterious circumstances in a London police station after being chased by a police officer. Also, O'Connor assumes the role of the reporter on the TV, experiencing shock at the death in Beijing when similar deaths were sanctioned by authorities in Britain. This thus emphasizes the blatant sense of disregard that perhaps her kind (white people) have for non-whites as they pretend not to see their behavior as racist and thus feign shock by the result.

Nearly forty years later, it is evident that these systems are still very much in place in wider Europe, as indicated by the death of Nahel Merzouk, (25 February 2006 - 27 June 2023), .On 27 June 2023 , Merzouk French 17-year-old of Moroccan and Algerian descent, "was shot at point-blank range and killed by police officer Florian Menesplier in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France. Initial reporting on the incident" (informed by police statements) "was later contradicted by a video posted online which clearly indicated that undue force had been administered by the officer in question. This led to widespread protests and riots across France and the world at large. Symbols of the state such as town halls, schools, police stations, and other buildings were attacked." Cases such as this showcase the universality of the problem of police brutality leading to death of persons. Too often these persons are young black men who will continue to die at the hands of white police officers if there is not a structural change within legal systems.

Police brutality is also a serious issue in the Caribbean. According to humanrightsinitiative.org "it is characterised by high levels of corruption and severe weaknesses, or complete lack of accountability mechanisms 1 Police forces across the region remain largely unreformed, and they suffer from the ills of this; including failure to follow due process, use of brutality and torture, corruption, bias and discrimination, and the extreme of extra judicial executions I. Police bias is a complex issue that has been studied by researchers and experts in the field. Implicit bias, which is any prejudice that has formed unintentionally and without our direct knowledge, can affect how police officers interact with people from different backgrounds I. Police forces and many other institutions are turning to implicit bias training to help their staff recognize when they are relying upon racist assumptions and stereotypes. Although the effectiveness of such training is still a matter of debate," Caribbean countries can adopt such training to reduce police brutality, especially when it is statistically, consistently associated with the black demographic. Unlike the other Caribbean countries and the wider scope of the world facing police brutality, Barbadians reported having higher satisfaction with police performance in controlling crime than most other countries in the Americas. In Barbados, only 1 % repo11ed paying a bribe to the police (the 2nd lowest in the Americas after Chile) and only 5.6% thought police harassment was a big problem. This is a solid basis for good police-community relations.

Unfortunately, however, the court system is widely known for their systemic output of racial bias, especially in relation to black people and most definitely to poor black people. This was echoed by the Honourable Mme. Justice Jacqueline Cornelius, Judge, Barbados Supreme Court through the article juristtproject.org. She noted that" there was a deep-seated distrust of the ability of the courts and judicial officers to solve disputes or res9lv.e conflicts without bias." "It is clear from comments in the public domain that the public considers the system rife with bias," she lamented. Hence the implementation of "training over the next two days... will be revolutionary for judicial officers in Barbados in terms of their approach to their daily work." For the general public, however, the question remains as to why it was necessary to implement a system to solve such an issue in the judicial field of work? This speaks to the fact that Barbadians were generally satisfied and did not necessarily see that there was a problem of judicial bias that necessitated fixing within the court system.

Yet, the recent spate of gun violence in Barbados suggests that this is not so. Between 20 I 9 and 2020, there were on record a total of 48 and 41 murders respectively recorded in Barbados. These figures represented an approximate I 00 percent increase from previous years. Further, over 90 per cent of these were by gun violence. Though there was a slight decrease in the years 2020 and 2021, possibly due to the restrictions imposed by the COYID-19 pandemic, by 2022 when these restrictions were lifted, these numbers rose again to 43. Invariably, both the victims and perpetrators were young black males between the ages of 17 and 35.

Given the universality of the issue, one only has to look at Barbados to see that when all these situations come in to play- police brutality, certain neighborhoods having resource gaps and thus being linked to stagnant youth, an educational system whose structures perpetuate ce1tain divides, along with the judicial bias in our court system; it is no wonder that many of the youth are getting fed up, and turning to gun violence- whether it be for survival purposes or out of real criminality. This is further compounded by the proliferation of media images that perpetuate the stereotypes of the young, black male as both juvenile delinquent and conversely as the victim of a judicial system that hunts and corners him. Either way, he comes to be associated with violence. Of course, this brings another dimension as one can interrogate how large a role the media plays in associating young black males with gun violence and how far this has contributed to the situation. Given all these dimensions at play, there is no doubt that we all have a responsibility to be part of the solution. And thus, I took it upon myself to analyze the situation and come up with philosophical solutions to physical problems, in which governments or neighborhoods can adapt to counteract this epidemic of youth gun violence.

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