One year ago, Barbados TODAY reported on the street crime in London. The report came on the back of a prolonged series of murders, primarily by stabbings and to a lesser extent, guns. One year later and the situation has not improved. Recent figures show that there have been one hundred murders by guns and knives in London so far this year. These statistics do not include injuries sustained through similar methods.
We found then that fear of reprisals and intimidation was so great that persons affected or those genuinely worried were prepared only to speak from behind drawn curtains.
Barbados TODAY in looking at the cause and effect met with the Smith-Maitland family of Hackney in East London who experienced the horrifying trauma of having their fourteen-year-old son/brother knifed to death by six villains who are now serving prison sentences. The presiding judge recommended that a minimum of fifteen years should be served before these vagabonds are eligible to be considered for parole. The family is not afraid to put their feelings in the public domain.
I first spoke to elder sister Zakiya Smith who subsequently lost another companion to mindless thuggery that has become a cancer in a society where decent people are nervous and scared to go about their daily tasks in inner London. Zakiya is visiting Barbados to attend the graduation of her youngest sister Tahirah who left London after the tragedy to study in Barbados.
Smith said the ordeal of the stabbing has left a mark that shows no sign of receding. Time in this case has not been a healer.
The murder occurred some ten years ago, and she is still traumatized. Smith takes up her story: “I see part of the problem as being a curse on our society and those who are charged with protecting its citizens. No one should escape the blame, no one should be allowed a free conscience for the manner in which my brother and others have been hacked to death. He was only fourteen and at that time was the youngest victim of knife crime in London. That is not a record of which I am proud.”
She continued: “Since my brother’s death I have set up a charity called Inspired Futures (inspiredfutures.org.uk) in an effort to show what a devastating effect these actions can have on both families – the victims and the aggressors. We have approached our local authority, Hackney Borough Council for assistance through funding which would help us in our efforts to go into schools and teach the children right and wrong, and about what mindless violence can do to a society. Sadly, we have not had a whimper of a response.”
Smith has obviously committed a great part of her life, nobly not to seek revenge in any form, nor for that matter to turn the other cheek, but to build on her experience and use it for the betterment of her fellow citizens. She is reluctant to use the colour or national codes, but she has observed and wondered if there is a correlation between the influx into the United Kingdom from war-torn countries where murder appears not to faze them and the escalation of the violence. I do not have a view on this theory, but I feel it should not be dismissed in a mass of generalities.
While speaking to mother and daughters a degree of dignity and calm constantly came to the fore. This surely is a remarkable family that has borne tragedy with great stoicism. Mrs Sandra Maitland had flown from Jamaica for Tahirah’s big day and reflected on life since the death of her son. She said: “Few remember after the body had been laid to rest. But it is at this point that internal examination grips you. All along my distress has been about the blaming game that occurred inwardly and outwardly. My greatest task has been to keep the family together when tensions, as they would, arose. I do not seek recriminations. I hope only that the mindless killings would cease. I now live in Jamaica and am gradually rebuilding my life.”
Finally, to Tahirah who was also attacked when her brother was slain. The impact has been such that she left for Barbados and enrolled at the University of the West Indies where she recently graduated after reading Economics. She said that her inner pain has been unremitting, and she no longer wanted to go back to the United Kingdom. Like her mother and elder sister she has found the capacity to forgive and she sees good reason why she should do so.
It is a sign of the strength of good character that a young woman, having not seen the pitching of a star, and having her brother ripped from her side in the brightness of day should find in her soul a place for forgiveness. She sees causes for these atrocities and wonders whether the underlying reasons can soon be fixed.
Perhaps we should be open to the views of a young and affected lady. She said: “I feel there is a need to have the matter as the subject in a curriculum at all schools in the western world. The pressures on the poor and dispossessed are left to fester unattended because we as a people are too busy building material castles. Too many are being left behind to fall prey to the evil forces that permeate our society. We need also to get the youth not only back into church but into a spiritual belief on the teachings of the Bible.”
It has been a remarkable experience to be among victims who have spoken dispassionately and without rancour about a subject with which few are able to empathise.
Barbados TODAY can only wish them well for the future and belatedly offer them the comfort of the old Hebrew proverb that says: “Say not in grief that he is no more but live in thankfulness that he was.”
Vincent ‘Boo’ Nurse is a Barbadian living in London who is a retired Land Revenue Manager, Pensions and Investment Adviser. He is passionate about the development of his island home and the disapora.
