Ministers urge parents to act as youth violence rises

Two Christ Church parliamentarians on Sunday called on parents across Barbados to take greater responsibility for their children’s actions, warning that a failure to intervene is fuelling a surge in youth crime and gun violence following the recent fatal shooting of an area teenager.

Adrian Forde, the MP for Christ Church West Central and MP for Christ Church West and Senior Minister Dr William Duguid spoke during a community march against crime — from the Milton Lynch Primary School at Water Street — in the wake of the shooting death of 13-year-old Shawnaton Chase, a bystander at a Silver Hill netball match last month. 

Scores of residents, community leaders and concerned citizens took part in the evening’s walk in a unified call for peace.

“This is not the Barbadian way… this is not who we are as a country,” Forde declared, as he emphasised the crucial role of the family in addressing the surge in gun-related violence, particularly among young people.

“I am now calling out to those parents, and I say so in an unequivocal way, to take responsibility for their children. It’s as simple as that. The church can only do so much, the schools can only do so much, the church can only do so much, the police can’t be in every single place at every single time,” he said. “It’s for us now as parents when we see things that we know are not the norm, to be able to say ‘My son or my daughter, this is not the way’.”

Members of the community came out to remember Shawnaton and support his loved ones. (JB)

Forde urged parents to remain vigilant and to speak up when they notice troubling behaviour. He encouraged them not to remain silent out of fear, but instead to seek help from trusted relatives, friends or community leaders.

“These are not older persons in their 50s or 60s,” he added. “These are young persons who have so much to give to this country in terms of building up better and going forward better.”

Reflecting on his upbringing, Forde noted that the values once instilled in Barbadian households needed to be embraced again, suggesting that returning to those principles could help curb the current crisis.

He said: “I am saying the time is ripe now for parents to take responsibility in this country for their children to be able to call them out. In my years as a teenager, I could not even imagine bringing home something that is not mine. I could not bring home a gold chain, not working anywhere of note that is worth five or six thousand dollars. I could not hide a gun in the bedroom for anybody to find out. We have to be able to stand up and be counted as parents and guardians in this country.”  

Dr Duguid called for a national shift in how conflicts are handled: “It’s time to step back. It’s time to find other ways to resolve conflicts. Guns are not the way. This is a march today to send that message across Barbados, that we need to be better for this country, we need to do better as a nation and we all need to work together to be able to achieve a better Barbados.” (SB)