As I write this I am still shaken and saddened by Jason Carroll’s senseless killing on Main Street at high day. Why? Jason was only downtown doing something positive; he was looking for a summer job.
The media described the victim as a man. I more think of him as a child-man, an 18-year-old college freshman, on his way to becoming an adult-man who will now never see that day. His family has been unfairly and horrifically cheated of seeing Jason develop into the man he showed every promise of becoming from his school days that began at Montessori, continued at Antilles, and then at All Saints and ultimately was cut short at the University of the Virgin Islands. We, as well as they, will never know now what Jason would have done to make a difference in this crazy mixed up world of ours.
We as parents warn our children about staying away from dangerous or troubled places, but Main Street? High day? How can we warn our children about that? Looking for a job on Main Street as summer is upon us is as natural and normal as one can get.
It could have been my teenage daughter, who was also downtown yesterday after school picking up a job application for a summer job. By the Grace of God it was not. By coincidence, when I picked her up a few short blocks away from the scene of this ghastly killing, she was actually sitting on a park bench talking to Jason’s brother. He, unaware that his brother had been senselessly murdered a couple of hours before, (although the name Jason Carroll had already been broadcast by the media), was keeping her company until I came. She too is overwhelmed by this mindless act and cannot understand it.
I grew up on St. Thomas and I simply mourn the day when I and my friends roamed the island at will. It’s not like we are living in some terrifying inner city where run down buildings, poverty, gangs and crime abound and, I should add, this is not the first time that my daughter knew a youthful murder victim; this never happened to me on my island home where I was allowed to grow as child without these adult issues crowding me!
My heart goes out to the parents, brother and other family members of Jason. It is extremely difficult for me to comprehend the pain they must be suffering. It is ironic that Jason has a father who has dedicated his life to fighting crime. It is also ironic that his father’s boss, U. S. Attorney James Hurd, has been leading a team of concerned citizens to end the youth violence that we have seen more and more in the Virgin Islands. It is also amazing that when the Committee to End Youth Violence meets there are always empty seats in the room despite press releases inviting the community at large to the meeting.
What are we going to do? Can we do anything? I believe we can, but we must dedicate ourselves to strengthening the families that many of these youthful offenders come from. Take a look at the statistics of the youthful offenders being held in custody at the Youth Rehabilitation Center of the Department of Human Services (and learn from them):
• 76% are from single parent households
• 26% are drug users
• 58% are school dropouts
• 13% come from homes where there is substance abuse
We have got to ensure that we address these factors prevalent among our criminal youth in a concrete meaningful way so that Jason’s life will not have been in vain. Jason’s death should bring it all home to us. It could have happened to any of us who have children.
We must take action to stop the spiraling murder and violence youth rates. We need to do what we have never done before; develop a strong, well-thought out, innovative, creative plan that puts aside political and personal ambitions to improve our quality of life. We also need to:
• Find more effective ways of getting young people to delay pregnancies and limit their family sizes to one that they can adequately provide for.
• Get our male population to understand the responsibilities of fatherhood and to restrict the number of partners with whom they have children.
• Make prenatal and postnatal care widely available, user friendly and attractive to low income women to avoid low birth weight babies born with neurological deficits.
• Find a way to ensure that each child believes that she or he has a future and that avenues out of poverty exist and are readily accessible.
• Get our leaders to dedicate themselves to the eradication of childhood poverty and reduce funding for its symptoms and instead increase money to eradicate the causes of poverty.
• Find ways to ensure that children have proper child care and that the child care is affordable and accessible and helps to increase, not diminish their intelligence.
I ask each of you reading these words, please do your part to improve the Virgin Islands so that Jason’s death and those of all the other young people will not be in vain. To Jason’s family, my heart goes out to you and I wish I could make your awful burden lighter.
Editor’s note: Catherine Lockhart Mills of St. Thomas, a former Human Services commissioner, holds a master’s degree in social work. She is a regular columnist at The Source. You can send comments to her on the articles she writes or topics you would like her to address at [email protected]