The sound of gunshots rang out just as the bell rang for the start of an open-air prayer vigil for peace at the Greens on Piccadilly Street, East Port of Spain on Saturday. It was a pore-raising reminder of the reason why over 40 people had gathered at the event.
The vigil was organised by community activist Isha Wells in collaboration with Port of Spain South MP Keith Scotland and the Oludumare Temple of Light Obatala Shrine following the drive-by shooting where 11-year-old Ezekiel Paria in Laventille was killed on February 23, exactly one month ago.
The vigil began around the same time a gang-related shooting took place in Harpe Place, Port of Spain on March 16, which left five people dead and three injured.
Spiritual Shouter Baptist and Orisha leader Fabrice Barker said he answered Wells’ call because the issue of fighting crime was important, regardless of religion, politics, or race.
“I don’t have to be friends with Isha, or with the minister, but I am a Trinidadian and anything in Trinidad has to do with me. And if something is going wrong somewhere, as a spiritualist, as a Baptist, it’s my responsibility to be part of the solution and not the problem.
“There is no division here today, no division in Spiritual Baptist, no division in Orisha, no division in Muslim, no division in Christianity, no division in Hinduism. There is one people, God’s people. That’s what Spiritual Baptist is about, it’s about all nations. We come together under one banner to get it done.”
He called on the gangs to put down their weapons and resolve their issues. He said one of the brothers cut a proof from the Book of Jeremiah which spoke about speaking to the kings.
“I want to send a message to the kings of the Sixx, to the kings of Seven, to the kings of the 9, whatever number you fall under, we need peace. We are asking to find a way to resolve whatever issues. They will know that way, and they will find that way because too many of our innocents are dying by the wayside.”
Barker said crime was a business that would never stop, and if crime stopped, lawyers, attorneys, and even journalists would have little to do.
Resident Marlon Thomas said although he was fasting for Ramadan, the issue of fighting crime was important enough that he had to speak. He said after the killing of Paria, the area became heavy.
“Compassion and empathy are what it takes to be able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, as well as information about the situation and the person. A lot of us here are parents, so we know the information about being a parent. All of us can put ourselves in the shoes of parents who’ve lost children. How many of our young people have to die before we realize we’re in a state of war?”
He said while he couldn’t deny the grief and trauma experienced by young people who were drawn to gangs, he said people should also be responsible for the young people in their communities who were being neglected, abused or bullied.
“A lot of what we are calling killers are advantaged children who have no other way to s
