The Violent Response....

“He beat she, he beat she, he put some good hand on she, real licks. Make she fall down all on de ground with licks, rolling around on de dirty floor trying to escape cuff and kick, and hear nuh, all de 'oman who gather around an' even all de man and dem too who watch she get she skin cut properly, yuh know iz one question all ah dem asking? And yuh know what they asking? What she do to deserve all dat licks? As if somebody could deserve licks of any kind much less licks like dat? Look leh me move from here yes. Is shame ah shame fuss ah shame because you would really think in these modern times we people woulda know better, and yes ah say 'we' people, who other else people dey have around here but we? Is we still stan' up stupid so an' watch a man beat ah woman an' even if we didn't say it we think it, and nobody want to interfere because we does talk dis stupidness how dat iz man and 'oman bizness and yuh doh interfere wid dat. Look I vex too bad oui, not knowing if to be more vex wid de man for beating she, vex wid she for not goin' and get something proper heavy and lick way he ass, or wid all ah we who didn't interrupt de licks and cut he tail instead. Ah know if it wuz me he couldn't sleep strong and sure to wake up nah. Or if  God smile on he an' he wake up he woulda be walkin' twist from dat day go forward. No, no man ent suppose to beat no woman, an' any man who beat woman deserve to get a good cut arse heself. Whey yuh say, ent iz true?”

Believe it or not, that is almost a verbatim re-telling of a conversation I had not too long ago with a witness to a 'domestic violence altercation' in a small community in the vicinity of Morvant off of Lady Young Road. For her part my witness was seething vex while she was relaying what she saw and I truly believe that if any man ever lost his mind enough to raise his hand to her he would be one hand short the next time you saw him. But seriously, the question has to be asked, why do some women 'let' men beat them? Social workers will tell you of cases that end tragically, how many times they remove the woman from the situation only for her to find her way back. Is it that our young women are too under-educated to know better? Or are they just acclimatized to a culture of violence from too early in life for any book sense to make any real difference between what they read and what they know to be 'normal?'

All of these thoughts  come rushing back to my mind as I learnt of the latest case of abuse, this time over the Christmas season by a high ranking political appointee no less, who allegedly beat his 'companion' outside a shopping mall in full view of the public. Now, if this is even remotely true it demonstrates quite conclusively the gentleman's 'un-fitness' for public office and he ought to be removed immediately to protect said Office from descending into odium and disrepute. He also needs to be investigated and charged for this alleged conduct to send a message to the wider society that violence as a response will not be tolerated under any circumstances regardless of station or status. Look, if we are serious about making a dent in violent crime we have to adopt a zero tolerance approach to violence and mean it. We need laws that do not require the victim's testimony to prosecute attackers, we need an offender's registry to protect future unsuspecting victims and we need mandatory psychological counseling for all victims and offenders in cases of violent abuse. Behavior modification requires swift consequences if they are to effect change as to do otherwise is to reward the precise behavior we are trying to rid ourselves of. Think about it...