ICAR Concerned Over Black-On-Black Youth Violence

The Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastafari and Pan African People (ICAR), under the leadership of President Aaron ‘Ras Iron’ Alexander, has issued a strong call for action against the rising wave of Black-on-Black youth violence in the Caribbean.  “We fully condemn in the strongest words possible, these acts of aggression and violence being carried out amongst our youth, one towards the other,” Alexander said in a statement on Monday, in which he observed that  the roots of such violence lie in a deeply painful historical legacy.  He drew a connection between current violent behaviors and the conditions imposed on enslaved Africans during colonial times: “This sort of behavior is indicative of our conditioning on the slave plantations, where brothers were pitted against each other, fighting to the death… as a form of entertainment for the slave plantation owners.” Alexander highlighted how inherited trauma, known as post-traumatic slave syndrome, continues to manifest  itself in the behavior of today’s youth.  He pointed to an “identity crisis” fostered by colonial education systems that undermine cultural roots and self-worth throughout the region. “Our youth need to be reconditioned, to learn better ways of socialising with each other,” he stressed, adding that it...