On 'Peace'
I struggled with the concept of my piece for the First Citizens National Poetry Slam finals this year. Not because I didn’t know what I wanted to say, but because I had no idea of how I wanted to say it. Even as I went on stage, I wasn’t entirely certain I had all the words.
I have a few more now.
Oh, so it’s Peace allyuh come here for? Sure…
Early this morning, 8 prisoners of the Remand Yard of the Golden Grove Prison escaped. I can’t pretend to know what put them all in there, whether they’re guilty of the things they were arrested for. That’s not my immediate concern; in fact, it’s pretty low down on the list. What’s at the top, you ask? How badly some of us would like to see them dead.
Four years ago, three inmates staged an escape from the Port-of-Spain prison. Each of them ended up in a coffin instead of a cell. And many Trinidadians cheered. To them, these criminals were nothing more than the fact that they were in jail. Hell, some in this great twin-island state of mine probably think we shouldn’t have bothered to arrest them at all - just kill them on the spot.
Before we go any further, I should say that I’m certainly not in favor of criminals breaking out of jail or otherwise avoiding the law. What I am in favor of, however, is imagining them as human beings; capable of terrific harm, like all of us, but also capable of tremendous growth and healing. And to think of them otherwise is to condemn them, and in so doing condemn our entire country in my opinion. Maybe that seems far-fetched to you, but let me tell you why I find it difficult to simply condemn these men;
All three men from 2015, and all eight men from today, were in our prison’s Remand Yards. Unless reporting of their escapes missed out something important, none of these men had been found guilty of a crime (except, I suppose, breaking out of jail).
Around noon today, one of the escapees - Olatungi Denbow - allegedly released a statement on social media. In it, he claims that his trial was tainted by the perjury of a paid state witness testifying falsely against him (and apparently several other cases). He pleads with the Commissioner of Police to investigate, and even pledges to turn himself in if the state decides to investigate. At the very least, that’s an interesting thing for a guilty man escaping prison to do…
Now, I know it’s certainly possible that the statement isn’t really from Denbow, or is simply untrue…but I find it interesting how quickly people would be to dismiss it. It’s even more interesting given how even us ‘law-abiding citizens’ have such little trust or faith we have in our protective services or justice system, especially when it comes to responding to violent crime. And yet…
“The sentiment is Peace
When allyuh saying Double G and his peeps
Should go in the streets
Cock and release
And ‘kill out all the beasts and them’...”
I’ve wanted to write a Spoken Word piece about the aggressive hatred that Trinbagonians have for criminals for the better part of three years. And every time, I’d get terrified of the idea. I have literally had people threaten my life for my stance on things like the justice system and the death penalty. Since then, I’ve always imagined how difficult it would be to get an audience of people from this country to think of people in prison as just as human as everyone else.
I went ahead and tried to perform such a piece - ‘Peace’ - on finals night, daring to challenge how bloodthirsty we are in our quest for ‘Peace’ apart from crime. I wonder, though, whether Peace is something truly possible, or what we really want. After all, Peace presumes that everyone engaged in it are equal, and deserving, and similarly harmed by conflict. It requires reconciliation, and trust, and Love…all things I’m not sure we have for people labeled criminals (or anyone, for that matter)… Can we trust, for instance, that this person is still innocent until proven guilty? Can we reconcile his potential harm with the fact that he was apparently wronged as well? Are we willing to do that for any of these escapees - ask for Peace from them, but also offer Peace to them?
I guess time will tell. But until then…
Blessings, Compassion, Peace & Love.
