74.7 F
Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024

Bullying

Cane Bay Beach, St. Croix

Dear Source:

My daughter and I patronized a well-known and popular Frederiksted establishment as I have on occasion for the past twenty years. Upon leaving there was a big dog in our direct path. We stopped and ask[ed] the female patron (white) to remove the dog from the middle of the walkway. She said the dog was friendly and insisted that we go around the dog. None of her three male friends objected. They were silent.

We walked around, obviously, not happy, after it was apparent she was not about to remove her dog. I have a question. What is the difference between a ‘thug-wanna-be’ putting a gun to my temple to rob me, let’s say, and this woman? Aren’t they both bullies, forcing their personal agenda and will upon an unprovoked ‘victim?’ Could we classify them both assailants that disrespect and dishonor the rights of another to feel safe and her/his well-being infringed upon?

Could we label this much like the rogue politics of the United States president who cares more about satisfying his selfish aspirations at whatever cost to loyal constituents-from the undocumented illegal immigrants claimed he hired to build his personal fortune, but marginalizes and render them invisible? Instead of acknowledging their virtue, he creates legislation to bar them from this country forever. And then, his corporate ‘friends.’ He removes his ‘friends’ from office who do not ‘play patsy’ or he perceives [are] not an asset to his bottom line.

The point. What is the message being sent by this woman or the establishment to others that patronize innocently and unprovoked, gets slighted, made to feel lesser, disrespected or disregarded? As a Virgin Islander, I witness that this is a community where young wanna-be thugs are senselessly offing each other and beginning to prey on unsuspecting victims. On a typical day, however, it is not a community where one of us deliberately [goes] out of our way to berate or create offense toward another, especially in a public place of business.

I dare say, this is also fuel for the kind of atmosphere that breeds hatred and retaliation, man against man, no different to the wanna-be thug, black-on black crime syndrome. If I [were] another kind of human, this scenario could have reached unsavory proportions, and likely in the very near future, it will if we don’t put our moral aptitude in check.

B. Camara Knight of St. Croix

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