Dear Minister Morgan,
I was really sorry to read your statement in the Jamaica Gleaner today.
The murder of a mother and her four young children is the most horrendous crime I can think about it.
I am a mother of four and that night I felt it, deeply, and tried to call
all of them. Stating that we defend criminals you decided to ignore how much we share pain, how much we deal with it every day with those coming to us seeking for help.
I have chosen not to go to the candle vigil because that family had the right to
mourn, to be held tight by its community without any risk that an outsider presence
could bring tension and divert attention to rage, to confrontations, while the family
and its sorrow was in need of being respected.
We, the human rights people, daily defend the most vulnerable people, the victims
who have nobody to help them. Stand up for Jamaica, along the last year, has assisted 190 raped, violated, beaten up women, offering legal representation, social basic help, counselling and sometimes money out of our pockets. And ensured that perpetrators were brought in front of a court. We protect abused children, juveniles at risk, incarcerated mentally ill, homeless, desperate people who cannot afford to pay rent, who lost jobs and families, who are left behind in their loneliness and poverty.
Victims of crimes, stigmatized and marginated people, are our daily struggle.
We know that what we can do is never enough. For one we can assist, there are many
we cannot reach.
We never will be able to individually console 5 to 9 daily victims of murders.
We can offer our services and our support to those who wish to be assisted.
Our commitment is towards everybody and our mandate is towards mercy, not
vengeance. We do not promote jungle justice, lynching, mobs, because our vision is
to contribute to building instead of increasing violence. We do advocate against
corruption, mother of most of the crimes committed in Jamaica, where a broken
system is systematically using and abusing the most vulnerable.
Dear minister ,we need to work hard all together for the defense of rights, it is the
only avenue to prevent other bloody, cruel, unacceptable tragedies.
Faithfully
Maria Carla Gullotta