State vs criminals: a case for transformation (Part 1)

Kamina Johnson Smith, Contributor

MOST OF US heard on the news reports on Monday, May 25, the anguished cry of a resident of the Tivoli Gardens community: "All dis fi one man? Dat nuh right!" In the moment, I thought to myself that truer words were never spoken, but on reflection changed my view. This isn't all for one man. This is a battle for Jamaica. A battle for a new Jamaica. The 'extradition matter' (a phrase which appears to include everything from the legal issues related to the extradition of Christopher Coke to the Tivoli incursion and everything else in between) is Jamaica's burning platform.

The burning platform is an image familiar to many persons interested in transformation. It was made popular by Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE), who used it in his transformation of GE. It uses the image of a burning oil rig, and is meant to symbo-lise the point at which it becomes indisputable that a fundamentally different course of action has to be taken from that currently being pursued. With the image of the burning oil rig, the message is clear: "get off or die" - as bald and clear as that. When an oil rig is on fire, no one argues about staying on to fight the fire, if it should be fought and, if so, how. Everyone recognises that he must get off and employ drastic action if he intends to survive.

Jamaica's burning platform

When Prime Minister Bruce Golding gave the order for signature of the authorisation to proceed, he took the first step for Jamaica as a country to get off the oil rig. Like a burning oil rig, however, sometimes there are casualties, and if I can make a limited extension of the analogy to BP's current experience in the Gulf, the process can be lengthy and difficult.

Our deepest fears about garrisons came to light two weeks ago. When the barricades started to go up, I wondered to myself, is this Jamaica? When driving to work downtown, if you had the misfortune of being passed by a truck full of masked young men - some appearing from their slight build to still be teenagers - you asked yourself again: 'Am I really still in Jamaica?' Then Hannah Town Police Station was looted and set ablaze. Where? Yes, here in Jamaica. The state was under challenge by criminal elements in a clear and overt way. The monster of crime has long been something that only the most deluded of us would consider to be a phenomenon of the inner city only. It is something that you cannot ignore or avoid if you live here. Indeed, once the state has been openly challenged, we as a country were forced to recognise that no man, woman or child can remain unaffected by crime as it is.

It is for this reason that I believe the Tivoli incursion, as traumatic as it has been for the island, cannot be the end of this matter. It can only be the beginning. Our murder rate for too many years has consistently risen - and clearly the murders have not only been taking place in Tivoli or its environs, nor only at the hands of persons who live there.

Islandwide crime

The parishes with the highest murder rate include St Catherine, Clarendon and St James. Crime is islandwide. Guns - and the persons using them - are islandwide. We must not get so distracted by Tivoli and 'Dudus' that we forget our upward-spiralling murder rate and the growing vicious gang culture. We must also not get so distracted by Tivoli and 'Dudus' that we forget what else is good in our country and what needs to be done to bring forth a new Jamaica. We are where we are and we must move forward.

Again, the point of the burning platform image is that we have to transform. We must create something new and not just tinker with the past.

I recently read online that "transformation is about creating a future, not perfecting the past". I apologise for not being able to credit the author but I find that phrase helpful in understanding the difference between transformation and mere change. Change can be partial or incremental, while transformation is complete - the creation of something new. We need a new Jamaica. Not one that is just tinkered with. In order to get there, the crime monster must be destroyed. In order to get there, a certain level of re-education has to take place, along with simultaneous and effective education and social intervention programmes.

We have to create a vision of a new Jamaica and, in order to get there, we have to unite. We have to unite in an understanding that transformation is difficult. It is not the painless and glorious panacea of words blithely uttered. We will therefore have to support our government and support the security forces while they try to lead us into a new Jamaica. While holding them accountable, we will have to be reasonable in our expectations and offer constructive criticism rather than over-politicised polemic.

Can we trust our security forces to apply appropriate rules of engagement and respect human rights while they challenge the cold and heartless gunmen who unfortunately are sometimes not even adults? This is a tough assessment to make and a tough balance to find in the winding unfamiliar tracks of some inner-city communities. We must accept how difficult it must be for them and support them while trying to have them recognise that they will still be held accountable for excessive force.

Unrealistic?

Am I being unrealistic in saying this must be possible? Is it that you can only realistically correct the crime problem if you willingly suspend your belief in human rights? Is it reasonable to expect a policeman, whether in the dark of night or light of day, having been under heavy fire in a community, to make an accurate assessment that the 16-year-old boy, undergarments fully exposed by his low slung shorts worn loose enough to conceal a weapon, is in fact a committed math student and not a threat, while the boy beside him, exactly the same in appearance, will pull his gun in the blink of an eye as 'mekkin duppy' is his thing. How does he make that choice?

I have no answers to these questions. Some we may forever debate, and the answers to others will, hopefully, become apparent in time.

To be continued.

Kamina Johnson Smith is a government senator.