A group of prominent Bahamian men, called the Brotherhood, including Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, the Hon. Vaughn Miller, Deputy Leader of the Free National Movement and Member of Parliament for St. Barnabas, the Hon. Shanendon Cartwright and Senior Pastor of Bahamas Harvest Church, Pastor Mario Moxey came together to speak out on crime in the country.
Moxey told ZNS News, “one of the things that we often times don’t consider is the fact that many of our men that are in these gangs they feel trapped. They feel as though there is no escape for them and so many of them clutch. They have weapons that they hold on to to defend themselves and the hope that only comes through Jesus Christ.”
The Pastor added, “as cliche as it may sound, Jesus is still the only way, the truth and the life. There is a path for them to get out. Many of us, as pastors, have eulogized young men who’ve lost there lives in gang violence and its a very sad occasion. The families that are left behind, the families that carry the burden that loss.”
For his part, Minister Vaughn Miller spoke about nation building. “Each of us want it to be said that we made a contribution to building a better Bahamas. Each of us would like to leave this country better than we met it. I know in the boys brigade Brother Palmer says he’d rather build a boy than mend a man but we have to do some mending.”
Also commenting was MP Shanendon Cartwright, who said that young men are looking for recognition and love. “What we have to begin to do is instead of them looking for that in criminal activity to show them and to emphasize to them through spiritual direction.”
Pastor Moxey encouraged young men involved in gangs to find a way to escape and live for their families.
