Nobel Prize winner the late great St. Lucian economist, Arthur Lewis, had neither delusion nor illusion about entrepreneurial talent. One can assemble, say, some young people, give them a crash course and a little money and set them up in business. But, it would be CRUEL, he said, to expect them to succeed.
It follows that the minority who have the capacity to employ themselves and perhaps engage a few more from the work force, should not be discouraged. They ought not to be subjected to harassment and victimization by thieves. My office was burglarized earlier this year, and on October 17 my home/house was ditto.
As I tell my story, it is no consolation when insurance agent Joan Oscar says that her car window was smashed outside of H.H.V. Whitchurch supermarket. Sheridan Gregoire recalls that his home and business were attacked several times. Claudia tells how she fired her job at ACS filling station after a burglar entered with a gun. Julius Sampson chimes in with the forced entry into his house at Jimmit; even subsequent to his own detective work no arrest was made. A radio personality learned a few days ago that wearing (some say "flaunting") her jewelry in public is dangerous business.
I believe that for every one of those stories there are ten others which I do not hear about. Meanwhile, it is said that for years the police has not attempted to bring any finger print evidence to convict anyone, because they lack the equipment/capacity to produce it.
Bad as things are, basic equipment and training for the law and order agencies must be a priority. If we cannot afford it, then we cannot afford to run a country here. Therefore ABOLISH THE COUNTRY. But the Hon. Minister for National Security and his advisors should not wish to take the responsibility to put those things in place only after innocent citizens have been maimed or murdered.
Whatever austere commitments we must have made, even the World Bank and the IMF will pardon a minor breach in expenditure for the purpose mentioned.
My October 17 intruder peeled off the plastic lining from my Scotia Gold Master Card - his way of testing whether it was pure gold. He left it on the floor in the sitting room. This brings me to the prominent citizens - damned thieves - who buy stolen jewelry and profit from that trade. There can be little hope in appealing to their greed.
I remember buying fruits at Newtown. Casually, I remarked to the seller that I may be buying my own fruits. Equally casually, she assured me that the mangoes did not come from my area. They had been stolen from the other side of town.
Her flippant honesty, even temerity, contrasts with descriptions of petty larceny by the late C.L.R. James in his book "BLACK JACOBINS". Slaves were subjected to unceasing brutality, he wrote. The majority of them accommodated themselves to that by a profound fatalism and a wooden stupidity before their masters:
"A slave is accused of stealing a pigeon. He denies it. The pigeon is discovered hidden in his shirt. 'Well, well, look at that pigeon. It take my shirt for a nest.' Through the shirt of another, a master can feel the potatoes which he denies he has stolen. They are not potatoes, he says, they are stones. He is undressed and the potatoes fall to the ground. 'Eh, master, the devil is wicked. Put stones, and look, you find potatoes.'"
The excerpt from CLR is inspired by a comical twist in the Jay's armed robbery that is now being reported by "radio neg." The current stupidity emanates from greed, not from fatalism; but the end result is good.
The story I hear is briefly this: A asked B to assist in the robbery. B's girlfriend learns that the spoils amounted to $6,000 of which B received only $500. She urges B to return to A and demand his just share. A refuses; B learns to his chagrin that the sense of honor which is popularly supposed to exist among thieves is a myth. B reports the matter to the police.
If robbery can do such bizarre things to perpetrators, it is infinitely more traumatic to victims. Some two decades ago a Vincentian couple responded to the doorbell in their Brooklyn, New York apartment. The burglar gave his name as one of the close friends of the family. The door, held by the usual chain was pushed ajar to identify the "friend", who quickly burst the chain with a piece of iron.
The wife showed the burglar where all the jewelry was and actually told him that he could shoot her husband, but please, spare her in order that she could take care of the children.
The burglar laughed. He was obviously surprised and amused at the extent of her panic. I may add as a footnote that the husband did not divorce his spouse as a result of that incident.
In the late 1960's I read the autobiography of a (black) American comedian whose name I have forgotten. He opened a night-bar and employed himself and one other. Things were very slow, yet before long a robber came in, drew his gun, pointed it at the clerk and demanded all the money.
The proprietor's reaction had more to do with insanity than bravery. Total cash takings that night was $18 and some cents. Yet he placed himself between the drawer and the gun. Mister, he said, if you knew how bad things were you would come here with money. The robber waved him aside with this gun but the owner refused to move.
Not even God can make me leave this place, he said, and God has tried…For some reason, the thief determined that he did not wish to continue that argument. He left.
So, there can be a funny side to all that. I did not even mention what the calypsonian sang: that morning at HILO a woman hid a box of frozen chicken chest under her dress. It is not funny however, when a man comes into your office or home, takes what he wants and leaves what he does not want for you. If you surprise each other, he can kill you.
We are all vulnerable. Consequently, the intent here is not to share blame or criticism. I write with high expectations that this will evoke the appropriate response from the authorities.