Dear Editor,
Nine months following the shooting and I am in a hospital bed in New York recovering from another operation to try to restore the paralyzed hand. The surgeon, however, is pessimistic about whether the function can indeed be restored.
Nine months later and the boy in Florida that started all the mayhem with his vivid and horrific threats to violent action, given free play on social media, known to hundreds, if not thousands, in Guyana, remains unpunished because he apparently told his FBI investigators that it was ‘all just a joke’. Is the FBI so easily satisfied?
My letters to the American Embassy re this matter go unheeded only to be ‘assured’ by a five-line response months ago they are ‘looking into the situation.’ Would the response have been the same if such threats were made at JFK Airport or aimed at purely American interests or institutions in Guyana?
We contacted the Guyana Police again a few weeks ago with further information re the alleged shooter. A one-line response was received thanking me for the information but, as before, throughout the nine months, no report of any follow-up.
The relevant authorities in Guyana have been provided with reports and allegations of drug dealing in a number of schools but once again we are given no information on any follow-up. Can the police be surprised by the widespread reluctance on the part of thousands in society to share information with them?
How long will we continue to blissfully ignore our young people losing their minds, their youth, their hopes for the future and maybe soon, if not already, their very lives in pursuit of dangerous chemicals that they believe will ease their boredom, isolation and sheer loneliness in pursuit of a fleeting high.
Will this be a topic of debate as we enter the election season? Which, if any, party will tackle this most urgent curse facing the youth of this country or will their continued inaction simply convince those who profit hugely from this misery that the field is theirs to profit with as they will.
Will this win any votes as the range of party hopefuls try to cross the ‘finish line’?
Yours faithfully,
Dr Brian O’Toole
