YOUTH OF BRITTONS HILL, St Michael, called for a ceasefire among their peers last week and for politicians to do more for the poor. The appeal came after two men were shot dead and another wounded by gunfire in the space of 24 hours.
All three incidents were connected to the district which has become known as a trouble spot for police.
Here’s how online readers reacted.
Rapunzel28: These young men are quick to blame the politicians, the church, their absent father, the other gangs, our poor economy, and the damn dog instead of accepting responsibility for their own actions.
Every morning we wake up we are faced with choices. The course of our lives will be determined by the choices we make. Our youth lack purpose.
Kemar Sandy: Want ceasefire? All unregistered guns should be registered in two weeks [and] any weapon considered high-powered/military style confiscated and either given to the Barbados Defence Force or destroyed.
After that, martial law and search every block, ghetto, heights and terrace for guns and drugs. How on a 166-square-mile [island] this is still a big problem? The US Embassy on Barbadian soil, can’t they assist in some small way? A lot of these youths aren’t willingly unemployed and a lot of you are mad at them for not settling, but what options are there for them?
Queenie ShaSha: Too many idle young black men around. However, when it has become acceptable and culture, you get what is going [on] up there. It became comfortable to be home doing nothing but reproducing and being idle.
Maria Leclair Dasilva: Do you guys really believe that jobs are going to solve this problem? If there were jobs right now being offered, who do you think would apply for those jobs?
Who do you think would be hired? It certainly is not going to be the thugs, hooligans, gangsters, the lost souls or whatever you want to call them, who are going to be employed. These guys have already got their minds made up to get what they want quickly without having to work legally.
Veronica A. Piggott: Why are politicians being blamed? Since when are they to provide the jobs? Some out of school without any qualifications and want desk jobs. I see the persons from down the islands coming here and getting jobs. Parents are not to blame anymore; they have a shelter over their heads and food to eat.
Hunte Omar: This has nothing to do with the politician. What the young people need to do is change their way of thinking for change to come about. Feed the police with vital information as to the source of the guns and the people in possession.
Then get rid of the nasty drugs which are impediments to progress. Get a skill which would enable you all to find employment. After you get a skill, the door of opportunity is opened, local and international.
 • Natasha Beckles is the NATION’S Online Co-ordinator.
