The Cry for A Bleeding Nation!

Dr. Kevin Turnquest Alcena
Ph. D. in Economics/ Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology/ Ph. D. in Public Health/ PhD in Herbal & Holistic Medicine/ Ph. D. in Biogenetics/MD, Titular Professor, Attorney-at-Law in the UK-Lawyer & ClLex:ACIArb

The streets run red like a river downstream,
As I hear the cries of the victims screams.
Aroused from my sleep, I now toss and turn,
Lamenting for those poor mother’s in pain.

Ratatatat goes the sound of his weapon,
As the gunman walks the road, eyes full of intention.
Moving to and fro as swift as can be,
Aiming for those who took his brother’s life you see!

The grief and loss was too much to bear,
When he saw his cold body just lying there.
The agony so intense, he knew not what to do,
With the pain he carried, and no one understood.

My brother is gone, what then should I do,
He quickly resolved in his mind that revenge is due.
His decision was absolute, final if you must,
When he saw his mother mourn the son who would soon be dust.

Wah wah wah like a hungry babe she cries,
Broken in heart for she will never again hear his sighs.
It’s not the order of things, not how it’s done,
A mother should never bury a child even though he bares’ a gun.

Don’t get me wrong he should have been home dealing with hurt,
Not out on the street with this there is no debate.
His brother’s death should not have been real.
But the day the grave took him was the time it was sealed.

He’d lay awake at night, rubbing his chest,
Not able to pull out what caused him unrest.
He plotted and waited until the right time,
For the opportunity to come so he could commit his crime.

Death has power to do strange things,
Even called into being hatred as it spreads its wings.
Shh! Can you hear it? The silence is loud,
One by one their bodies hit the ground, causing waves of terror without even a sound.

But it wasn’t enough, so the story goes,
Even after they were down, he kept firing like blows.
He had to make sure his message was heard,
That no deed goes unpunished, no way! It’s absurd!

What a sad commentary to see such young lives lost,
What’s even sadder is that from prison to the grave they’ve be forced.
No time to repent or consider their actions,
No time to change disassociate from all factions!

Let this be a clear warning to those in that world,
Your time will be cut down before the wind even twirls.
Don’t be like those who thought they had all the time they could spare,
Take this as your lesson, turn around and don’t forget to treat life with care!
(Penned by Tameka Moxey)

Growing up on an island has had many advantages, one being the safety and security one often felt moving to
and fro as we went on our way. It was an era where the old adage that ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ was
adhered to and not taken lightly. A period where we knew who are neighbors were and did not hesitate to
ensure each one helped one. It is ironic that during that time growing up in The Bahamas we were not as
wealthy or as prosperous as we are today, yet we understood that family was everyone not just blood relatives.

We could go next door and borrow anything without the expectation of being repaid. We could rely on one
another to look out for our children. While our parents and guardians were much stricter, they were more
revered and respected and loyalty and friendship meant something tangible.

Fast forward to today and society
is no longer recognizable. We have become so prosperous and have advanced in technology and education, yet we
we are more divided than ever. We can no longer trust our neighbors with our children because of the sadistic
nature in so many people now. We cannot trust friends because loyalty no longer exist. We cannot go next door
and ask for something without the possibility of being told off or not allowed in at all.

The social ills are more
prevalent than ever, babies having babes. A population that is much younger but less educated and skilled. We
now compete for jobs and security in our own country against the foreign entity and sold our birthright, our
very own crown land to the highest bidder. We have no faith in our own people and would choose others over
own. All of these and more are part of the reasons why we had such a blood bath in the streets on yesterday.

We are a nation in peril, lost and our youth, the next generation seems to be lost without a hope. Martin Luther
King Jr said, “For evil to succeed, all it needs is for good men to do nothing.” How can we stand by and watch
the future of our nation fall to the devices of the streets and this cruel world?

A nation without young people is
a dying breed of people. According to a study by medical journal The Lancet from researchers at the
University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation “declining population growth and an
aging population can pose challenges to some countries.

These population shifts have economic and fiscal
consequences that will be extremely challenging. With all other things being equal, the decline in the numbers
of working-aged adults alone will reduce GDP growth rates,” the researchers wrote in the report. Are we going
to wait until the drug wars, crime, teenage pregnancy, abuse and the many other social ills decrease our
population to the point of non-existence? What are doing to rectify the lack of educated and skilled workers in
the country?

We are people so good at complaining but what are doing to not just be complainers, but
problem solvers, and planet shakers? We often complain about the lack of skilled young people we have in the
country and use this as an excuse to outsource from outside of the country.

Thus, leaving a big gap in
unemployment and extending the burden on Social Services. The tragedy of the massacre the other day, in
broad daylight, on our streets in this little island should be a wake-up call to all of us.

The time we take
fighting amongst ourselves for position and power and notoriety, our young people are lost and in need of
direction.

The question we should ask ourselves is are we to blame? Are we setting the examples that young
men like those needed? Or is it because of our adversarial behavior that the youth of our nation are falling prey
to drugs and alchol and the gang lifestyle? Mary McLeod Bethune said, “We have a powerful potential in our
youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power
toward good ends.”

The issue of the violence that is taking place on our streets must be addressed. We must go on the defensive to
combat and circumvent this issue. Not only was a mother and child injured during this fiasco, but a preschool
was right in the heart of the chaos. What would the school or anyone for that matter have been able to say if
one of their kids, being innocent bystanders, were hurt or worse killed? Mr. Prime Minister, these are things the
politicians and the powers that be should spend their time dealing with, not petty arguments in the media. Not
tick for tack comments and innuendos, but focusing on the real issues and trying to find realistic solutions and
attainable goals to handle or alleviate the situations all together. I wonder if the outcome would have been
different if those young men were taught a better way, trained on how to deal with conflict and shown an
alternative way. As it is said, “Give a man a fish, and he will be hungry again
tomorrow; teach him to catch a fish, and he will be richer all his life” (“The Common Growth”
by M. Loane). If we truly believe in our own people and in the continuity of this country then we will begin
consider that not only our personal accomplishments, achievements and legacies are important but those of the
masses as they will be the ones that will rise up in our places one day.

And the question we should be asking is
what kind of legacy are we leaving behind in this country for the next generation? The 12th-century
philosopher Maimonides wrote: “to anticipate charity by preventing poverty, namely, to assist the reduced
brother, either by a considerable gift or loan of money, or by teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the way
of business, so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding up
his hand for charity. . .” These issues need to be addressed head on because what is happening is a situation has
evolved in our country of these little drug turf wars, the police know who they are, so we need to pass laws that
will empower the police to pick these individuals up and put them in court.

They know who are the players but
are limited by what they can do according to law. This must change immediately for the safety and well-being
of all and our country as a whole. This retaliation mentality is insanity! The government has no problem
tapping our phones with a court order, watch and assist people, but we know who these people are.

Our laws
need to be amended to go after and eliminate these drug dealers in this country. Have we forgotten that this
country is a tourist country? Can you imagine, with technology being what it is today, how far and wide this
tragedy has reached and trending online what people must think? Do we understand how this can damage our
reputation as a tourist destination? We cannot allow these select few people to destroy the goose that lays the
golden egg! We need to put some serious counter intelligence in place in regards to this.

The Police Force
needs to be given new legislation in order to go after the handful of these guys. We need to deal with these
people draconianally. When you are caught with drugs in places like Singapore and these other foreign
countries you would be executed! Can we afford to continue to play with our economy? To play with our
children? It’s only a handful of them so we should be able to bring them down!

Sometimes, it takes going above and beyond to achieve a goal. So, if it means bringing experts in to assist the
police in drawing out the criminal element, observing and implementing best practices on the issue at hand,
creating our very own Alcatraz on one of the islands, the let’s do it Mr. Prime Minister.

We need to be
actively seeking to get these weapons out of the hands of these dumb, illiterate fools. As Micheal Moore said,
“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” This is not the wild, wild, west, but if we continue like this we
will have no economy and no society.

This is not a political problem, this a society problem. We must all
work together for the betterment of the entire country as a whole. If one were to check their historical records
it would most likely be discovered that these are the same boys that never fared well in school, either did not
graduate or dropped out all together and became unproductive citizens of society. The country is facing a
serious crisis of vigilante justice and the law. Studies showed that countries with the least crime rate, like
Sweden, Singapore, Korea and Arab countries is because they have more stringent laws in regards to these
Kinds of issues.

This massacre is sadly is a reflection of the educational system through which these same
Criminals matriculated through. They are fighting over territory, that really doesn’t even belong to them,
fighting over revenge and think because they carry a gun, they are demi-gods. They have no regard for
authority or laws and the only way to counteract them is through counter-intelligence measures. We need to be
at war with these criminals, anything less is a waste of time! Noam Chomsky said it well, “The drug war is
simply an instance of the illegitimate use of power by concentration of power that shouldn’t exist in the first
place.”

Let us get serious and begin to take back our streets and the country as a whole!