WHY ARE YOUNG BLACK MEN KILLING ONE ANOTHER?

Fred Mitchell, Chair of the PLP, was asked the question in the headline while in Miami last week at the independence celebrations for The Bahamas. He said he told his questioner that he did not have an answer, save that this was an epidemic throughout the CARICOM region and the United States. There are similar problems in Bermuda, Trinidad, Jamaica, St Lucia, Barbados and Guyana. We are not sure that anyone has an answer. What we believe is that this is caused by a lack of value formation. That means that somewhere in the raising of the children, there is a loss of values. The PLP’s solution has been to try social remediation programmes. That is what Urban Renewal is. That is what Programme Sure is.  However, these programmes will take at least a decade to see whether they work or not. The hope is by engaging young people in positive activities that this will help with value formation and tamp down the propensity to inflict violence particularly amongst males.