The Beetham community has a recorded history of violence and protests. It is a community grappling with poverty and residents often complain of neglect. This week, following protest action, which saw motorists and commuters traumatised, the Sunday Guardian interviewed a young adult on the problems plaguing the community. He did not want to be named for fear of being victimised.
I’ve lived in Beetham Gardens all my life. Growing up here has been bittersweet. I grew up in abject poverty but I was raised rich in morals and values. My childhood memories are mostly filled with fun.
Beetham was always an area in which crime was a part of the culture. When I was younger, I can’t remember gang activity being the norm. Instead, I remember many people internally and externally that would engage in internal killings, robberies and theft against members of the community.
Today, there are rare cases of internal murders and minimal or probably no cases of “gang members” stealing or robbing members of the community. On the other hand, there has been a significant increase in the number of murders, robberies and thefts performed on citizens outside of the community.
Today, the entire community becomes a part of the “Rasta vs Muslim” war. When the “enemies” or gangs from the “Muslim City” comes to do a drive-by or walk-by or shoot up our taxi stand in Port-of-Spain, it’s only the innocent ones that feel it. This war has created borderlines and innocent members of the community can’t even go to neighbouring communities as they are killed either as an enemy upon going or as a traitor upon a safe return.
I’ve lost multiple family members and a lot of friends who I grew up with to gun violence. I’ve had three incidents of gun violence that I remember clearly.
Two of them resulted from the drive-bys from warring communities who simply just came to shoot up the place. The third was when I was almost killed due mistaken identity.
I feel safer when I am inside my house. The police create minimal safety. Many in the community feel safer depending on the gang members to deter or stop the warring communities from infiltrating and shooting or killing members of the community.
Gunfire never ceases
The most shocking thing I can remember is the killing of the five-year-old child and grandmother on New Year’s morning of 2016.
Literally, gunshots are the background music to life in this community. I hear it all the time. I don’t even jump or get surprised. If it sounds like the sound is near, you drop low or just run until it stops. There’s literally not one day you go without hearing the sounds until it just becomes normal. It really doesn’t even bother me any more.
I’m not very afraid while walking through the community. I just look out for the drive-bys.
These are the things I see as contributing to crime. The poverty mixed with poor parenting, the lack of mentorship in our hotspot schools and lack of positive role models, which sees children turn to the gang leaders as idols.
It also seems as though the Government finances the war by awarding contracts and then, on the other hand, they are trying to stop it. How does that make sense?
And then there are the low detection and conviction rates which make crime attractive. It leaves young men thinking that they can join the criminal field and there are little consequences to their actions, which makes it easy for them to join gangs.
There’s definitely a high illiteracy rate amongst many in our community. But year after year, we’re seeing that a great number of young people are determined to improve that significantly. On one hand, there are a high number of youths actually pushing for tertiary level education and making the best of this. On the other, the community has probably one of the highest percentages of school dropouts and youth delinquency. Any day you pass by you can see the number of young people just sitting on corners.
I also see a lot of single parent and sibling-led families. It comes down to just a matter of a household trying to survive by any means they deem necessary. Good moral and values are sometimes not even passed on.
Hope for the community
The last time I felt happy was when the Beetham Gardens Community Centre was completed and opened. We fought tirelessly for this as a community and 90 per cent of the labour and expertise came from the community of Beetham Gardens. I was happy when it was completed because it was proof that once young men and women get the opportunities they are ready, able and willing to make that positive change.
Every time I walk into the centre, I feel so proud of these members of the community.
I am proud of the growing amount of positive young people and other law-abiding citizens that are in the majority, who quietly go out and contribute significantly to society and its growth.
We have produced successful sportsmen and women, cultural ambassadors and outstanding academics and scholars. These images are barely captured and these people are hardly recognised by the media.
Recently, we saw a group of individuals behaving in the most disgusting and notorious way by attacking the public. This was an act that most members of the community were not in support of. The entire community was labelled and branded as rebels and all sorts of inhumane names for the actions of a few.
It made all the front pages. When we have success stories you can hardly even get mediocre coverage. At the end of the day, two wrongs can’t make a right. This is the 21st century—if the TTPS does something we deemed wrong there are civilised ways and means to deal with it. Hire a great attorney, go to the Police Complaints Authority, try a peaceful protest in front of the top cop’s office. This is not the way forward. TTPS and the Government should do all in its power to give justice to those innocent citizens that were affected Thursday. However, they must keep in mind that not every resident is a criminal or participated in such acts.
My hope is that social, physical and economic factors of my community could improve significantly. I hope the residents can change their mindsets. I hope that our national community would give the younger generation a fair chance to opportunities without the stigmatisation and discrimination caused by a few of our community.
WE ARE ALWAYS THERE TRYING TO HELP THEM—SENIOR SUPERINTENDENT
Told about comments made by the individual resident about the unwillingness of Beetham Gardens residents to trust the police, Port-of-Spain Senior Superintendent Floris Hodge-Griffith said police had done significant work in the community and other communities which faced similar challenges.
“We spend time, resources and energy to uplift and meet with the people in the Beetham community. Our officers go every day and whether it is the Police Youth Club, homework programmes or other programmes dealing with youth, we are there. It is disappointing that they would not feel as though the police is available to them.”