By Dr Oswald R Thomas

What is happening to our beloved Antigua and Barbuda? Elie Wiesel puts it best when he penned these words: “I have learned that whenever a community is threatened, all are affected. Whenever a single human being is humiliated, the human image is cheapened. Whenever a person suffers for whatever the reason and no one is there to offer a hand, a smile, a present, a gift, a memory, a smile again. What happens, something is wrong with society at large.”

Dr Oswald R Thomas

Our nation of Antigua and Barbuda has been experiencing a crime wave of unbridled proportions for some time now; many of the crimes committed are, by and large, foreign to our culture. Culture, according to Myers (2002), is: “The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.”

Some argue that the changes in our nation are due in large part to the newcomer, the television our children and youths are watching, for those of us who can afford cable and satellite TV, our children and youths have a wide choice of channels from the Middle East, Asia, North America and Latin America, and not to be outdone, as citizens, we have the choice of watching the nightly news in English or Spanish. Yet others have gone the distance to include on this list, foreign music such as rap, hip hop, reggae and movies with their sexual content and the promotion of violence against women.

The problem of crime and punishment in Antigua and Barbuda is especially grave, since it involves a great number of children and youths. While many would support and promote the incarceration of all persons found to be in breach of the law without mercy, therefore not giving a youth, man or woman a second chance to reform his or her life, hence becoming a more productive member of our nation. The late Father of the Nation, Rt. Hon. Dr Sir Vere always posited that “Antigua and Barbuda’s only natural resources are its people.” Therefore, why would we as a nation miss the opportunity to mold our children and youths to become the guardians of our democracy and the preservers of our way of life?

The crime situation in Antigua and Barbuda cannot be abated if we continue to use a law enforcement approach only. No criminologist, sociologist, psychologist or behaviorist would ever advise a nation that more jail time is the best approach to alleviating crime. If we are to be successful in bringing crime levels down in Antigua and Barbuda, then the powers that be and civic society must respond to our nation’s children and youth from an law enforcement, educational, economic, and social transformation approach or we will continue to score the kinds of results we are now reaping.

When we do not support our children and youth as full members of our families and society, they turn to gangs. Gangs control the most violent aspects of children and youth delinquency and crime but, while the problems are new to Antigua and Barbuda and the wider Caribbean, as early as 1555 England struggled with the control of the “ragged classes”: the destitute, handicapped, vagrant, orphaned and delinquent youth (Brake 1985). In Antigua and Barbuda and the wider Caribbean, gangs, drugs, and guns severely complicate our nation’s efforts to control our children and youth.

Many have asked, why I am writing on these topics, and my answer is the same as that of James Hillman, The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling, “A restructuring of perception is what I am after in my writings. I want us to see the child we were, the adult we are, and the children who require us in one way or another, in a light that shifts the valences from curse to blessing, or if not blessing at least symptom of calling.”

Dr Oswald R Thomas is a Certified and Registered Clinical Hypnotherapist/Psychotherapist with the American Board of Hypnotherapy, the International Association of Counselors and Therapists, and the International Board of Medical and Dental Association. He is founder of the Thomas Center Human Development, Inc. and serves on Bronx Mental Health Committee, served on Community Board #5 in the Bronx, and the Bronx Neighborhood Planning Committee as Chair of the Youth Committee. With a Ph.D. in Psychology, a Master’s in Public Administration, and a Bachelor’s of Professional Studies in Human Services, Dr Thomas is a counseling therapist/Behaviorist, and Professor at Metropolitan College of New York. Email: tcfldrthomas@gmail.com