Human Rights Is About Protecting Innocent Victims:not About Securing The Safety Of Murderers.…

“It is not merely enough to be outraged. It is not merely enough to be saddened at what is happening. It is not merely enough even to weep over what is happening. Outrage calls for action! You gotta do something about it if you’re outraged.”(Fellowship Tabernacle Pastor Merrick Al Miller.)

The occa­sion was the funer­al ser­vice for 17-year-old Calabar High School stu­dent Stephan McLaren who was stabbed to death on New Year’s Day on Hagley Park Road in St Andrew, after leav­ing a party.
It was report­ed that while walk­ing with a group of friends, McLaren stopped along the way indi­cat­ing that he want­ed to urinate.
One of his friends said soon after he rushed to them say­ing he was stabbed.

It becomes almost curi­ous to talk about a sin­gle mur­der in Jamaica with­ing the con­text of the dai­ly mul­ti­ple killings.
The killings are so fre­quent , so fast, and in such num­bers that talk­ing about an indi­vid­ual case makes one seem almost silly.
I am just blown away at the idea that a kid on his way from a par­ty who stopped to uri­nate could be stabbed because some­one believed he had some­thing they want­ed to rob.

Having served a decade in uphold­ing the law on the Island, hav­ing been a voice speak­ing out against the unchecked epi­dem­ic of crime since I left in 91, I am exas­per­at­ed as I know many peo­ple are, about whats happening.
In a no holes barred arti­cle, local jour­nal­ist Ian Boyne expressed sim­i­lar exasperation.
Of course Boyne’s bit­ing nar­ra­tive seemed more direct­ed at the pre­ten­tious know noth­ings and the human rights crowd, than at the killers themselves.

Social media is replete with raw emo­tion­al respons­es from Jamaicans liv­ing, both in the dias­po­ra and at home.
Much of what has changed and has become clear­er, is a dis­tinct thread of anger at the bur­geon­ing cabal of indi­vid­u­als and Organizations which has sprung up in the coun­try pur­port­ing to be defend­ers of human rights.

I am all for human rights , but if I want­ed to be cred­i­ble when I lend my voice to the cause, I believe my pre­oc­cu­pa­tion would be with the indis­crim­i­nate loss of inno­cent lives .
Not about the rights and secu­ri­ty of the killers.
Nevertheless, as is the case with much of what ails Jamaica, bull­shit car­ries the day over commonsense.
Human rights advo­ca­cy in Jamaica is just anoth­er eat a food gravy train and a place to have a mega­phone, con­se­quences be damned.

Hearing the Reverend Al Miller’s state­ments made me cringe however.
It is not mere­ly enough to be out­raged. It is not mere­ly enough to be sad­dened at what is hap­pen­ing. It is not mere­ly enough even to weep over what is hap­pen­ing. Outrage calls for action! You got­ta do some­thing about it if you’re outraged.”

If only we would fol­low our own advice, take due care about our asso­ci­a­tions and motives.
Being good cit­i­zens in our indi­vid­ual capac­i­ties when no one is looking.
Then when we speak to spe­cial cir­cum­stances our words would have greater resonance.
Jamaicans have fall­en in love with mur­der, like much of the world wrong is right and right is wrong.
It should sur­prise no one that sym­pa­thies are with and for the wel­fare of the killers and not with the victims.
A peo­ple blind with igno­rance will for­ev­er reap the whirl­wind of their actions.
America is about to find that out.