Dear Readers,
This is not the introduction I had planned, but the senseless killing on Friday evening of six innocent Barbadian citizens has forced me, on behalf of NATION Newspapers, to take a stand on this shocking violence that should enrage the right-thinking among us. Shanna Griffith, 18, a former student of St James Secondary, was offering service to her customers – as she had be doing for the past six months – at the Campus Trendz store in Tudor Street when tragedy struck. And, to national astonishment, she would succumb after rescue to the effects of a raging inferno at the hands of uncaring and assaulting bandits. Equally horrendous, the heartless act had a short while before claimed the lives of fellow workers Pearl Cornelius, 18, and Kellisha Olliviere, 24, and shoppers Nikita Belgrave, 23, Tiffany Harding, 23, and Kelley-Ann Welch, 24.This incident, following upon the robbery and burning of Chicken Galore in Bank Hall, St Michael, on August 13, tugs at our society’s life strings, challenging age-old Barbadian values that have sustained us. We believe these diabolical deeds of a group unrepresentative of the nature of Barbadian society should serve as a warning that we need to nip this creeping, dastardly, criminal trend in the bud.Today Nation Newspapers stop short of prescribing remedies, but call on you, dear Readers – all decent Barbadians – to take a step back. Let us all look at ourselves and see what other values we may be inculcating amongst us that would occasion such a barbaric act as Friday night’s. We simply must not allow our reputed saneness to morph into bedlam. Today, we offer sincerest condolences to all those who lost loved ones through Friday’s tragic fire, and wish that for a crime so shocking, justice will be done – and seen to be done. We condemn violence in all its forms; and we invite your participation as we endeavour to hold onto and secure our beloved and cherished God-fearing nation Barbados.
Editor-In-Chief,
Kaymar Jordan
