Are young people safe in Guyana? Are they protected? Names like Neesa Gopaul, Isaiah and Joel Henry, Haresh Singh and Shonette Dover are only a few of those who were not safe. They were not saved by being protected from those who murdered them. But at least there is justice, right?
At least we do not gleefully mop the floors with their blood or mark our doors with it to hide from the fact that our silence can be seen as complicity, and our weaknesses support a system where a child’s parent could participate in their murder and have their sentence reduced. But it is the laws we created, right? At least we do not save the blood of those already lost, waiting to baptize the many other young people who are not protected from abuse and violence. Or do we?