Dear Editor,
I write to commend the organizers of a candle light vigil held Sunday evening to remember and to pray for the departed souls of the four teenagers (Two Trinis and two Guyanese) who lost their lives in the horrific Long Island crash. I, Guyanese advocate Vishnu Mahadeo, and a couple of other concerned Guyanese, separately attended the wakes for all four victims to empathize and sympathize with the families. TV host Roy Ramsaran also attended the wakes and funerals of the victims to feature their story on TV. I accompanied him to two homes and a funeral home. We visited homes and spoke with family members about the youngsters and mourners to get a sense of their reaction to the crash.
Everyone was distraught and our visit and words of comfort were well received by relatives, friends and mourners. We were deeply moved by the suffering of the parents and other family members of these youngsters who had their lives snatched away in an instant.
The family needed support for the loss of their loved ones and they thanked those who joined in their bereavement and who offered encouragement.
They did the same again on Sunday evening at Smokey Park, site of the Phagwah parade and other Guyanese community related get together. Several hundreds, mostly youngsters, remembered the teenagers. The principal of Richmond Hill high school, where three of the teenagers graduated last June, also attended and offered words of comfort to the families. Family members, religious figures and community leaders spoke movingly about the kids.
At all of the wakes and at the funerals, with the funeral home overflowing with mourners, some of whom don’t even know the youngsters, people asked for my opinion about the fatal crash. Before I could give my view, they answered their own question. Mourners at all the wakes and attendees at the candle light vigil asked the same questions repeatedly: Why did the family of the surviving driver – a 17 year old teenager without at full licence — give him a car, a brand new sports car? And why was he driving a car without adult supervision when his licence specifically forbids him to do so? Why were these youngsters on the road at 3:30 in the morning when they should be waking up at that time to begin their studies?
Mourners recall several earlier crashes in the New York area in which multiple Guyanese youngsters perished. Last February in Tampa several teenage Guyanese were also killed in a crash. Mourners were of the view that parents unwisely reward their children with vehicles when they are not matured responsible drivers.
The overwhelming opinion among every adult at the wake and I had spoke with since the accident, which was the topic of conversation of every Guyanese and Trinis is no teenager should be given a car and or drive unsupervised.
Furthermore, they hold the view that kids who want a vehicle should purchase it with their own earnings or parents should match their kids’ contribution towards the purchase – do not buy a vehicle for kids outright. Let the kids exercise some responsibility like adults if they wish to be like a grown up. Giving unsupervised youngsters a vehicle is a bad move, a recipe for disaster as so many experiences with fatal crashes attest. Four lives were needlessly taken away from us two weeks ago and dozens more in recent years in the Guyanese fraternity in America. More monitoring and supervision of youths is needed not just in driving but being out late at nights and not in school during school hours.
Many complaints come to me about youngsters hanging out, consuming alcohol and smoking when they should be in school. Guyanese community leaders in New York need to come together and plan a course of action to address the many problems confronting our youngsters.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
