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MORVANT is still hurting one year after police shot and killed three men in Second Caledonia. The police claim it was a case of a shootout with fatal consequences while relatives and friends of the victims insist otherwise. Sunday Newsday published a story on the residents' continued cry for justice. This is the second and final part of that story by DARREN BAHAW
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As well as pain, anger and an increased sense of injustice, the police killings in Second Caledonia last June also brought about a never-before-seen community togetherness, a truce among warring gangs in the so-called criminal hotspots, and a yearning for a closer working relationship and respect from those sworn to protect and serve.
There were more widespread consequences of the police killings of Israel Moses Clinton, 27, Joel "Lion" Jacobs, 38, and Noel Diamond, 46.
Less than two hours after the shooting, video footage of the incident began to be shared on social media and infuriated a cross-section of the country over the growing number of police killings.
Police had to use tear gas, batons and started shooting after coming under attack near Success Village in Laventille as they tried to get a grip on the mayhem. Riot police were deployed to divert a group of close to 200 people, some armed with sticks, back along Prince Street as they made their way down Frederick Street.
During one of these protests, Ornella Greaves, four months pregnant, was shot at Beetham Gardens and later died at hospital.
A separate investigation by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is nearing completion and is only awaiting the post-mortem report from the Forensic Science Centre before the file is likely to be sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
[caption id="attachment_897495" align="alignnone" width="480"] Israel Clinton ...shot dead by police one year ago. -[/caption]
In the aftermath of Greaves' death, residents claimed she was shot by a police officer, but the CoP said the police had reviewed their security cameras and GPS systems, and no police vehicle was within seven miles of Greaves when she was shot.
Asked whether he believed his family will ever get justice for the death of Joel Jacobs, one of the victims in the Second Caledonia shootings, his father Sterling said: "I am an ultimate optimist."
He said even though he had lived in the area for over 30 years, it was not until the tragedy that he realised how many people around him were so caring, loving and educated.
He said the sporadic protests in the days after his son's death were a reflection that the nation realised it was an unjust killing.
During one of the memorials in the US over the killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota policeman, Jacobs's son's name was immortalised in one of the symbolic crosses during protests over the Floyd killing. Last Friday, Floyd's killer was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.
WORKING FOR CHANGE
Activist Candace Cedeno, one of the driving forces in changing the stigma against her community, proudly showed off a small field the villagers funded out of their own pockets for small-goal football competitions. They also hope to build a basketball court at Cipriani Avenue.
Villagers said there were no CEPEP gangs in their community and the bush is overgrown, drains clogged and garbage left at the side of the road for days. Many roads are pockmarked with craters and cars are parked on one side left space only for one-way traffic.
In an attempt to wipe away that negative stigma, three mural artists – Ronny "Pternsky" Boyce, Zinnia Chee Wah and Kerwin Jackson – are collaborating to paint a larger-than-life memorial at the scene of the incident, depicting the three men, with the message "Rest in Power," hoping it will help empower the community and erase the reputation of ghetto and bandits which has dogged Morvant for decades.
[caption id="attachment_897493" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Mural artists Zinna Chee Wah, right, and Ronny Boyce, second from right, show relatives of the two of the three men killed by police the memorial they intend to paint. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]
Boyce said something good will come out of the tragedy and the mural will serve as a reminder of the power of love, strength, togetherness and caring which he said overflowed in the community after the police killing.
"We never seen something like that in Morvant, not in that volume. A lot of people still looking for closure...this is something for us."
Boyce said this togetherness was the perfect vehicle to encourage people to uplift their community and silence the detractors.
"There is no need for the hate, there is no need for prejudice," he said.
Chee Wah said he got involved in the early protests last year, aspects of which mirrored the Black Lives Matter movement in the US arising out of the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
"I just felt that this is something I had to do too. I grew up in Belmont: there is a very similar vibe and energy...I have experience as a mural artist, and I just lending my experience to people up here.
"It is all about community and leaving a memory. This is a real pressure time that we feeling right now and pressure does form diamonds and this wall here going and be a diamond."
They are hoping the authorities will grant them permission to paint the mural during the state of emergency.
INVESTIGATIONS
On November 12, the PCA forwarded the findings of its probe into the killings of the three men to the DPP. A separate police investigation being led by ASP Wayne Abbot is nearing completion.
[caption id="attachment_897494" align="alignnone" width="276"] Joel Jacobs, one of three men shot dead by police in Morvant. -[/caption]
A total of 18 officers from the Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB) and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), both based in Aranguez, who were under the command of a police sergeant, have been away from field operations since early July 2020.
Seven were sent on administrative leave and the CoP assigned the other 11 to desk duty on the recommendations of the PCA and the Law Association.
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSE
In response to the national cry for something meaningful to be done, the Prime Minister appointed a ten-member committee headed by Anthony Watkins, in July 2020, "to find working solutions to address some chronic problems which can be found in urban and semi-urban communities."
Dr Rowley told the group that “as far as the country is able to – through the national executive – we will provide the resources to implement the solutions that you think ought to be actionable in all these communities.”
At the committee's appointment, Rowley said "the issue is not geographical but rather socio-economic" and urged it to focus on "creating vehicles for people who want to be transported out of a situation that is getting the better of them."
In April, the Community Recovery Committee submitted its report with a host of recommendations. Members met with representatives of 53 communities in 13 clusters spanning four separate constituencies: Laventille East/Morvant (MP Adrian Leonce), Laventille West (MP Fitzgerald Hinds), Port of Spain North/St Ann's East (MP Stuart Young) and Port of Spain South (MP Keith Scotland).
Among the matters under discussion were: The Social Work Association, which has established a framework to help people deal with the trauma in the communities; the police's Hearts and Minds team, which has helped young entrepreneurs set up mini-agricultural projects in the hills of Laventille; the contributions of corporate bodies such as Angostura and Shell, who are working together to avoid duplicating efforts and; getting the Port of Spain Revitalisation project off the ground – a major state initiative to encourage new residential units in the east of the city.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Anthony Watkins, consultant and expert in social pathology/mental health, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Director of the Children's Authority Nichola Harvey-Mitchell, former TT football manager Jamal Shabazz, radio broadcaster Hans des Vignes, motivational speaker Curtis Toussaint, author Akosua Edwards, economist Dr Keron Victor, Olympian Hasely Crawford and music producer Christopher "Jillionaire" Leacock.
 
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