By way of prologue to this commentary on crime in today’s Bahamas, we cede space to an enraged prime minister The Rt. Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie as he asked rhetorically, “What kind of animals, what kind of brute beasts have we created in this land? What kind of animal can chop a woman up right in front of her infant children? What kind of mindless savage can shoot someone in his head just because he looked at him the wrong way?
“What have we come to when you can walk all your days in the footsteps of the Lord, leading a good, decent and upright life, only to come face to face in your bedroom one night with someone who doesn’t only want the little money you have, he wants your life too – and for no reason at all, except for the diabolical thrill of seeing you die!
“Tell me, what gives them the right?
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing tonight. Perry Christie and this new PLP Government now solemnly declare an unrelenting war on crime. Enough is enough! The time has come to take our country back so people don’t have to stay cooped up in their homes, afraid to even go to sleep.
And as he declared, “The time has come to take back our streets so that you don’t have to be afraid to walk the streets by day or drive your car by night. The time has come to root the human rot out of our land so that the good are no longer hostage to the bad and the ugly. It is time for goodness and Godliness to triumph once more over wickedness and evil. An end to this madness!”
The sad fact of the matter is that while the prime minister was emphatic in his declaration about bring an end to this madness that is crime in The Bahamas, declarations on their own are not good enough.
Regrettably, crime continues its crawl and slouch throughout The Bahamas. From one end of the archipelago to the other, criminals are on the loose. Some are engaged in poaching.
Others are busy peddling guns, drugs and counterfeit bank notes.
While – yet again – there are other criminals who are fully employed in the field of human cargo smuggling. And on other occasions, others are busy in their chosen occupations as con artists and thieves. And for sure, a hardy few are busy killing people.
The latest murderous outrage in the news concerns the execution-style murders of two European tourists who were vacationing in Bimini. This is obviously bad news not only for the victims, but also for the tourism industry in The Bahamas.
In addition to these killings, there is also a pall of sadness coming from the new information about that young Bahamian woman who was also murdered. When her remains were discovered there was evidence suggesting that she had been strangled.
Today the sadness continues as her neighbors, family and friends grieve and lament her cruel demise.
And so too for the neighbors, family and friends of the European tourists who were found dead in their hotel room in Bimini.
The difference between these two tragedies is telling. One killing resonates in one small community on the island of New Providence; while the other has the potential of echoing around the world.
While this is ironic, it is also a brutal fact of life.
The murder of a tourist brings with it so very many attendant risks for the reputation of a destination like The Bahamas.
But the truth today is that regardless of the nationality of the victim, the Bahamas is a troubled place.
Interestingly, the extent to which the Bahamas is a dangerously troubled place is kept safe from the prying attention of outsiders. This is due in great measure to the fact that visitors to The Bahamas – in the main – are kept far from the hot spots. In addition, the tourism product is so effectively marketed that tourists do buy in and do accept it as gospel truth that the Bahamas is a vacationerﾴs paradise. ﾠ
This fact also quite neatly explains the concern that tourism officials are now expressing in the aftermath of the killings in Bimini. These deaths underscore a point made some time ago by the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie to the effect that the level of violent crime in our society is simply unacceptable.
While the prime minister is surely correct in what he says about “violent” crime, he would have been on surer ground had he decried the extent to which Bahamians – some of them ostensibly law-abiding – are guilty of committing a variety of other slick offences.
In our opinion, The Bahamas should aspire to the achievement of that ideal where all law breaking is decried.
Editorial from The Bahama Journal
