The Tribune

By IAN BETHEL BENNETT

We talk about young men needing to be taken up by the system, yet we really do very little to change the way things are. This may seem like a repetition of an earlier piece, but it hopes to show that we are in a problem of our own creation. It also hopes to show, through all the research that has been conducted for this project, we need only make some real engagement for things to begin to turn around.

Government can make people feel good by saying they will get tough on crime, but that will cure nothing. Yes, a few more men and women will be thrown into prison, but what will that change? Young men will still feel as excluded from society as they do now. One thing that really causes crime to grow is the lack of any kind of social mechanisms that will work with young men, and—to a lesser extent—women, to bring them into the fold. We talk about stopping violence, yet we see everyday that there is more violence: 16 year old boy rapes 13 year old girl. Why does this happen so often?

Then the community decides that the Haitians are the cause of all the problems. However sad it is, we have to begin to reflect on what kind of chaos we are creating. We have known for years that our education system is failing. It now stands at a D average in some areas and a G average in others. All the task forces are saying the same thing. Where is the will to affect real positive change? Young men are still discouraged from education. Further, when they cannot see any way forward, what do they see? Ironically, the black under classes are sadly discriminated against. This is particularly so for young men. We do not teach them very much other than they are worthless.

To be sure, women are still unequal in the Bahamas. They experience legal and economic discrimination. They are not paid the same as men once they enter the work force. Discrimination based on gender is systemic and rampant, but it would have been altered by now if there were real interest in doing so. Similar discrimination is visited upon most of the nation’s youth. We talk about national development and national pride, and everyone goes out to cheer, but at the end of the programme, how much real investment is there in changing the direction of the country and truly empowering its youth?

The World Bank (1201) country profile on the Bahamas shows that many of the young people are unemployed because they are unemployable. Companies find it hard to find adequately trained people. So, they import foreign workers. Young men are left unemployed and unemployable, yet churches and youth groups ask them to come to Jesus. They want these apparent problems, according to the government, to come to the lord.

How ironic, again, that the church stays in and wants people who are in need and having a hard time to come to them. What about their pride? There is obviously a break down in understanding because when people are in trouble, often they do not understand that they are in trouble or they get angry. Further, organisations need to meet them where they are. Young men are not generally going to come into the church on a Friday evening for youth group, or on a Sunday for service.

The groups that want to work with men need to go and meet them where they are. Why does a 16 year old rape a 13 year old? Firstly, it is all he has ever seen. Violence is pervasive and we accept that. Second, we tell him that he is tough and bad, and he accepts that. Thirdly, he cannot reason beyond, I want this, this is mine because we told him that too. Fourthly, if he cannot write or read well enough to be able to get a job, what options does he have to express his inability to fulfil his role as breadwinner and wage earner? Do we really think young men are going to stand and cry and say they feel misunderstood and ask for help? Seriously? Their only response is going to be what we see going on around us: more violence, more robberies and more unemployment. Where did we put all those young men who left school in June without graduating? The data shows that families in the Bahamas do not encourage young men to seek out educational advancement; in fact, they are discouraged from education. So, how honest are we being when we say we want to get tough on crime?

We are now saying that we are going to implement VAT and change the tax regime (eventually) how are those same young men that steal now to make ends meet going to make ends meet when life becomes doubly as expensive? We may want to rethink the way we talk about youth empowerment. We need to show them that they have a future that they can believe in.

• Dr. Ian Bethell-Bennett, Associate Professor in the School of English Studies at the College of the Bahamas, has written extensively on race and migration in the Bahamas, cultural creolisation and gender issues. Direct questions and comments to iabethellbennett@yahoo.co.uk.