Grieving widow says home drums should beat first

Selwyn Blues Knight was a black life that mattered. But while Barbadians recently took to the streets to protest in the wake of American George Floyd’s slaying by a white cop in Minneapolis, no one has agitated or marched for justice for the late barman.

That was the position today of Knight’s widow Marleen who two days after the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) staged a march in The City against police brutality, racism and other issues, said that five years after her husband’s death allegedly at the hands of a policeman at Dash Gap, Bank Hall, St Michael, she was still waiting for justice.

Marleen said she was still in disbelief that Barbadians marched following Floyd’s death, but did not take to the streets to call for justice for her deceased husband.

“Home drums beat first. This is five years now that my husband has been killed and nobody ain’t come to see whether I surviving, how I doing, nothing. I don’t even hear from the lawyers.

“But then they could be protesting for George Floyd. These things ain’t right. I can’t feel good, so I start my protest then on Facebook letting them know Selwyn Blues Knight’s life mattered also, along with his son,” the frustrated widow told Barbados TODAY at the Queen Mary Road, Bank Hall, St Michael home she once shared with her partner of 27 years.

The late Selwyn ‘Blues’ Knight

Police constable Everton Gittens, who is now on bail, was charged for murdering Knight and shooting his son Junior Knight, on March 15, 2015. The police officer allegedly shot the men at Dash Gap, Bank Hall, after they had chased a burglar who had stolen items from their home. That burglar was subsequently charged for his home intrusion.

“My son still got two bullets in him, one in the buttocks that shattered, and the one that he got in the shoulder move and gone to the back of his neck. I can’t sleep comfortably. Many nights I got to get up and go and check to make sure that my child still living because I don’t know what to expect.

“I ain’t getting no satisfaction. I ain’t getting no justice. The Attorney General [Dale Marshall] ain’t checking for me, not even the representative for out here [St Michael Central’s Arthur Holder] that never once come and sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with me,” she said.

The newspaper vendor lamented that her life has been in turmoil since Knight’s death.

She explained that her late husband was the sole breadwinner of the household and took responsibility for paying the majority of the bills, while she filled in the gap with what money she made from selling newspapers.

However, the widow lamented that at this time “papers ain’t making any money”, her bills have gone into arrears and buying food has become a difficult task because of limited funds. She noted that she could only do so much with the BDS$180 she receives from the Welfare Department at times.

“Somebody should be looking out for me because Everton Gittens was a police, or is a police. He on $200,000 bail, and most likely he getting half pay. I ain’t getting nothing. But it gine got to kill me, because I ain’t giving up.

“I can’t do nothing about my husband because he dead and gone. But I got my son and he got two young children. Suppose he die? What will happen to them and what will happen to me? I don’t have no back-up,” she said.

Close to tears, a grieving Marleen said in addition to not having her husband to support her through the serious health challenges she is currently experiencing, she felt that her husband’s case was taking too long to come to trial. She went as far as to question whether her humble social status was a factor.

“For the way how I see things going, like them want me to forget about it, but I can’t forget about it. If them want to keep Everton Gittens, keep Everton Gittens. Give me a settlement then that I could live and let me move on with my life,” she said, adding her son could die as a result of the shifting bullet in his body and should be compensated in the interest of his children.

With much passion in her voice, Marleen also voiced concerns about Government’s intention to lay a Black Lives Matter (BLM) resolution in Parliament this week, as was announced by Minister of Environment Trevor Prescod at last Saturday’s protest.

“That is only because of George Floyd. What about the ones here? But I got to stand up and represent me, my husband and my son. And if I got to do it alone, so be it.”

The tears now rolling down her cheeks, the grandmother of seven said that seven months ago she was thrown into a state of mourning once again when her son Jomo Savoury committed suicide following a period of depression.

She said Jomo’s death was yet another blow particularly because he was the person she leaned on for support. Marleen is now faced with having to repay the money she borrowed to take care of Jomo’s funeral arrangements.

“And people walking about talking about justice. It got to start from home. You can’t bring in somebody from outside and want justice when you ain’t giving nobody where you live justice.

“He knows how he bills gine get paid, while I got to be scratching my head studying which part I will get something to eat, how the bills gine get paid. This is wrong. The Government should be helping me in some way. I am 64 and if I could work as I would like, well so be it, but I can’t work. I got to get knee replacement now,” she said.

“. . . I need help. I don’t know if them want me to bow down to them and beg them like a dog, but I ain’t doing it. You see how much money George Floyd ‘get’ in the States? What I getting? I ain’t getting nothing. So tell me, what is the sense that them marching for George Floyd and Barbados in the same predicament because nothing ain’t gine change. I waiting to see this Black Lives Matter resolution,” she added. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb