EDITOR, The Tribune

“On the Island” was originally “created” after news of the May 9, 2019 double homicide in White’s Addition off Kemp Road -- the morning after the double murder at Potter’s Cay. While I did not witness the White’s Addition shootings, I was on the Queen’s College campus and heard the gunshots and the wails of grief that followed.

The ongoing violence in Nassau is nothing short of tragic, especially for the truly innocent, particularly children who are traumatised sometimes physically and, always, psychologically. The horror. The devastation. The agony. To what end??

“Violence merely increases hate...Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King Jr.

On the Island

(Apologies to Elvis Presley and songwriter Mac Davis for the unfortunate circumstances that led to the adaptation of their 1969 song, “In the ghetto.”)

As the sun shines

On a warm and sunny Nassau mornin’

A poor little baby child is born

In Nas-sau (In Nas-sau)

And his mama cries

‘Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need

It’s another hungry mouth to feed

In Nas-sau (In Nas-sau)

People, don’t you understand

The child needs a helping hand

Or he’ll grow to be an angry young man some day?

Take a look at you and me

Are we too blind to see

Do we simply turn our heads, and look the other way?

Well, the world turns

And a hungry little boy with a runny nose

Plays in the street as the trade wind blows

In Nas-sau (In Nas-sau)

And his hunger burns

So he starts to roam the streets at night

And he learns how to steal, and he learns how to fight

In Nas-sau (In Nas-sau)

Then one night in desperation

A young man breaks away

He buys a gun, shoots a man

Tries to run, but he don’t get far

And his mama cries

As a crowd gathers ‘round an angry young man

Face down on the street with a gun in his hand

In Nas-sau (In Nas-sau)

And as her young man dies

As the sun shines

On a warm and sunny Nassau mornin’

A poor little baby child is born

In Nas-sau (In Nas-sau)

And his mama cries (In Nas-sau)

(In Nas-sau)

(Aah-aah)

NASSAU VIOLENCE

Nassau

July 2, 2019