On the subject of crime, especially gun violence, there is always a divide among our people-be it political, personal or otherwise. As our natural human emotions would dictate, there is never a shortage of the collective expressions of sadness, shock, anger, disappointment as well as advice sharing on possible solutions to remedy the situation.
The varied emotions of course is quite the norm because crime and violence is abnormal to the accepted civil conduct among human beings. Hence, reactions are often based on either our relationships with the victims-knowing them personally or their loved ones, assessing the state of affairs in the country in wanting a change in government or fresh approach to tackle the matter at hand.
Automatically, many individuals and groups choose to share their sentiments in different ways with radio programme call-ins, social media postings and street side conversations being common avenues-and even calypsonians might choose to address the issue through social commentary songs.
Family members and other loved ones are left to grieve deaths of those whose lives have been taken away from such brutal acts and oftentimes many describe these killings as ‘senseless’ as they try to comprehend why.
Opposition politicians respond almost in campaign mode-grading the current government and in so doing point to what ought to be done whilst making a comparison with their past performance during their time in office.
It is right there and then that it appears that crime becomes a political football which lends to a hot topic debate among our people, dividing our people in a sea of blame game.
It is quite clear that we all have our views on how crime and violence should be tackled but we must be quite mindful not to let it divide us thus feeding negativity on when in reality our efforts should be geared towards immediate and long-term positive impact for a peaceful society.
In our own way, big or small, we can all play a role in seeing to a peaceful society. Family members, community residents and leaders, the government must do their part.
The perpetrators themselves must be held accountable as well for choosing such a way of life negatively impacts the lives of other people on different levels.
Above and beyond trying to address what is happening now though, we must fully recognize that there are generations upcoming and yet unborn, and so we must envision as a people what kind of St.Kitts and Nevis we want to see.
After all, crime prevention is everybody’s business, right?