Westbury caught in a cycle of fear, silence and gang violence

The issue of gangsterism has again reared its ugly head in Westbury. It is during this time that we must ask ourselves: how are criminals protected by a community that claims to be under siege?

What normality is guaranteed in places such as this?

Westbury is an area synonymous with drugs, gangsterism and violence.

It is a place needing a strong police presence and social intervention to make community members and those who visit the area feel safe again.

But when the police do come, they are chased out by the community to protect these druglords?

We know the criminals in our communities. We also know the police who harbour these criminals and turn a blind eye.

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We know the political figureheads whose career ambitions are bankrolled by this blood money.

The point is they know, yet they turn and look away.

They remain silent and allow the safety and pleasure of our communities to be taken away from us on a daily basis.

They allow themselves to bear witness to mortuary vans becoming an ever-constant sight for us to see – that the children they raise become so desensitised to the bloodshed and mayhem because this is normal.

Criminals are a craze, gangsterism is applauded and we are impressed by anything vaguely nonsensical. Things that will not matter three years from now take up so much space in our thoughts and conversations.

Yet the important things that can help to rebuild the land of our dreams are of no consequence.

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We are a nation drowning in decay but have adoration for the very things that bring about violence and gnaw away at the very social fabric we need to cling to.

So much wrong, yet it’s accepted, because we are meant to be happy people who are devoid of the current state of this nation.

Though we are left aghast by the bloodshed, subconsciously, we have also come to sort of accept that this is the way that life in Westbury will always be.

But this is what we must refuse, this is what we should reject, though civil society may not have the power to take on the underworld that fuels this life of murder, drugs and prostitution.

It is the men and women who live among those that hold these communities’ hostage that can change the landscape.

But we saw the opposite when they took to attacking their lawful protectors and protecting criminals.

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