Too much greed and pain, too little love

FRIDAY, MARCH 2: ‘…Sleepin’ awake because of fear, children are drowning in their tears. We need a place where we can go, a land where everyone will have a hero.’

 – R. Kelly ‘Gotham City’

I write today in an attempt not to ridicule anybody, or place blame on any particular group, social stratum, or political party, but to give voice to an otherwise silent population in this country; Bermudian youth.

What is wrong with Bermuda? The answer is that Bermudians are what is wrong with Bermuda. Not black Bermudians or white Bermudians, nor poor or rich Bermudians, but ALL Bermudians, Every single last one of us is responsible for the Bermuda we now live in.

It is time to stop placing so much blame for the shortcomings in our society on the government and the police alone.

Truth be told, this society is just as responsible for the blood running through Bermuda’s streets as the persons pulling the various triggers. However, very few in this society see things as such.

I see people pointing fingers in an attempt to identify ‘who’ or ‘what’ is responsible for the onslaught of violence.

Neither the police nor politicians are perfect; yes, our laws seem lax and outdated, and the effects of the drug trade are awful. But the police and politicians have been imperfect since 1609, as have our laws, and the drug trade will always be awful. So what changed?

It is our society that changed. We, as a people and country, changed. We became selfish and self-absorbed. We taught our children to subconsciously glorify inanimate objects by placing so much emphasis on what we gave them. Material things eventually replaced love, affection, discipline and values, and now we wonder why our youth are so angry, lost, lazy and have no apparent regard for human life.

I was ‘raised in a village’ — a network of people helped my single mother raise me, and loved us without seeking any compensation in return. Teachers invested countless hours in making sure I would be a success, and pushed me when I wouldn’t have pushed myself. Elders kept me in check in the presence and absence of my mother. People took interest in me and told me that I could do or be anything I wanted to be. People loved and supported me — but they also disciplined me if necessary and helped shape my character. To my ‘village’, I would like to express a sincere and heartfelt, ‘Thank You’.

It seems however that ‘villages’ raising children are scarce. They have been replaced by single mothers, estranged fathers and families fighting over land, houses and money instead of fighting for their children and Bermuda’s future. Meanwhile, their children are raised by ‘the streets’.

The principles of ‘my brother’s keeper’ and ‘my sister’s helper’ have been replaced by concerns of only ‘me and mine’. “As long as mine are alright, I’m not worried.”

We are crabs in a bucket, pulling each other down, and now our children are killing each other, Now cousins murder each other, now black males are more likely to be ‘caught up’ than college-educated and everyone wants to blame the government.

Ignorance is allowed to run rampant. People know who are carrying out the shootings. Bermuda is simply too small for everyone to be so clueless, but no one is talking. Mothers see the guns; they hear the rumours, they even benefit from the drug money, yet none of them are willing to turn in their sons for the greater good of society.

It’s a vicious cycle, especially when drug money keeps a roof over a struggling mother’s head and food on her table. Turning your flesh and blood in is not the easiest of requests —  but enough is enough. The line needs to be drawn somewhere.

Success should not be based on what political party gets voted into power, but by the number of children we send off to college; by the number of successful young men our society can celebrate instead of imprison or put in the ground; and by the investments we make to progress as an island, not just as individuals.

Blood will continue to run through our streets, and it’s not because of the police, or the politicians. It’s because my generation was miss-educated, preceded by generations either miss-educated or uneducated altogether, and yet we have somehow earned labels like ‘lost causes’ or ‘brats’ when truthfully, it’s not completely our fault. It’s one thing to be allowed no access to an equal education, then allowed access to a system that teaches you more about American history than your own.

In a country where I struggle to find any semblance of of culture outside of Gombeys, fishcakes, Bermuda shorts, Codfish & Potatoes and Moongates, I can’t help but wonder what it means to be truly Bermudian.

Marcus Garvey once stated: “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

A major issue with my generation is that we aren’t taught who we are or where we come from, and therefore national pride, or any kind of pride is practically non-existent. I not only know the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ better than whatever Bermuda’s national anthem is this month, but also, ask me anything about American history, American historical figures, or even their constitutional rights, and I can probably tell you.

Ask me any of the above in regard to Bermuda, and while unlike most 20-somethings on this island, I have actually read Bermuda’s Constitution, I definitely know America’s better.

We weren’t born angry, volatile, foolish or antisocial; we learned to be this way. When society paints the picture that it is more important to be rich, than equal, this is what happens. When all around us, selfish behaviours seem to prevail, we no longer see the need for selflessness. When it appears that politicians care more about political ideologies and pointing fingers at each other, than the electorate they are supposed to be serving, this is what happens.

Bermuda, we have done this to ourselves; we who support the drug trade for our own personal highs, yet condemn it when it kills our children; we who turn a blind eye when the violence and madness does not affect us, yet protest and cry “justice” when our loved one is gunned down. How hypocritical and selfish we are as a society. This entire country is guilty of murder in the first degree.

Sixteen of the 20 gun murders in the past 9 years have been males aged 30 or younger. A quick glance throughout the Facebook posts and news blogs and the increasing vitriol and disregard for such genocide is shocking.

Comments like ‘Why don’t they just round all these guys up, put them on an island, and let them kill each other,’ or ‘Who cares anymore, it’s kill or be killed,’ or, ‘What’s new? I’m not even surprised anymore. This is boring now,’ are common. When did the loss of human life become a matter of entertainment?

An even more shocking fact is that a news article about murder or crime can generate up to 200 comments, but an article about young athletes, scholarship awards or the many successes of Bermudian youth may get 20 comments at best. More often than not, we hear that we are hooligans, doomed, misguided, ungrateful and dysfunctional so what does anybody really expect? Our accomplishments are largely ignored, while our shortcomings make front-page news — is this not a problem?

We need to start loving each other before it’s too late. iPads and fancy clothes will not raise successful adults, because morals are taught, not innate. Hurt people, hurt people.

And a lot of Bermudian youths are hurting inside. As a society, we didn’t stop them when they dropped out of schools, nor did we stop them when they first sat on street walls… We took limited action when it was machetes and helmets, and thereby let it escalate to guns.

Our silence and inaction is what has given strength to our downward spiral. We let it get this bad, so let’s start righting our wrongs as a united and loving people.

Bermudian Raisa Tuzo, 22, is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.