SeeingRred
RIP #AndreaBharrat #AshantiRiley and all the countless women and children who have been victims of violence and abuse everywhere.
Last week a law was passed in my beloved home country of Trinidad & Tobago allowing the use of pepper spray to be used as a form of defense. Whoopeeee! Year after year of reports of abuse, battery, kidnapping, disappearances, rape, torture and mutilation made by courageous people only to be followed by dropped charges and more violence, and this is what officials have managed to come up with?
I read somewhere that now, after the recent murders in Trinidad linked to taxi drivers, “there will be effort put towards” monitoring vehicle registrations for taxi drivers. That is all great. But, the truth is, it’s not only taxi drivers. There is violence and abuse happening in every urban city, town and village by people from all walks of life and every socio-economic group. It is pervasive.
In Trinidad, many of the perpetrators have serious criminal charges longer than their market lists under their belts, and still walking free. One of the men charged in Andrea Bharrat’s kidnapping/murder had 70 (that’s right… 7-0) arrests and charges! 🤬 One of the glaring issues is that in many countries like Trinidad, whether there are systems in place or not, no one is keeping track.
A week ago, on the day set for Andrea’s funeral, business owners closed up shops and people (women AND men) marched in protest, paying their respects and demanding justice. It’s a start, but why has it taken so long? It’s because violence against women and crimes against children are commonplace and woven into the fabric of my culture, passed down from generation to generation. It’s because in places that are still plagued by archaic patriarchal practices (everywhere?), and dominated by men, the lives of women and children are deemed less valuable. It has been normalized and accepted as truth (to varying degrees) by both men and women.
It is a dreadful shame that it takes stacked numbers of horrific incidents in one year and the sacrifice of many lives of our women and children for the spotlight to finally shine on all of these dark, unspoken issues. But, that is the reality. In 2012 it was the torture and disembowelment of 23-year-old Jyoti Singh on a bus in India that sent the country and the entire world reeling in horror. Currently in Trinidad it is the kidnapping and murders of 22-year-old Andrea and 18-year-old Ashanti that broke the camel’s back.
I just hope that while it is fresh in our minds and still rattling us, strong-willed and compassionate women and men alike will stand in solidarity and finally DO something about it…. SOMETHING SUBSTANTIAL, because it’s 2021 and this is still happening.