Hidden victims of the narcotics industry

Between 50,000 and 60,000 French citizens lost their lives in aerial bombing during world war II. the bombs were largely dropped by their own allies. You may or may not have heard about it, but it was as devastating as Germany’s bombing of Britain, with a similar number of casualties.

Although it is not a celebrated fact of French World War history, it is not exactly an issue in the many horrible memories of World War II. Why? Well, it is somewhat understood that collateral damage is a fact of war. The responsibility of all losses of the French lies with the Nazis, whether they were German or French Vichy.

There is an acceptance that evil was being challenged in the name of peace and there was no intention by the allies to wilfully harm innocent people.

On that note, I want to discuss the Breonna Taylor and Keith Clarke tragedies. I mention the Clarke and Taylor incidents because they are similar in many ways.

Firstly, both persons were killed by Government bullets. Secondly, both persons were innocent. Thirdly, both incidents involved citizens rightly defending themselves by firing at police, albeit unknowingly and innocently. Fourthly, and this is the part you may find hard to accept, they were both killed by people who started that night believing they were in the pursuit of law and order, and ultimately justice. Let us discuss, not quarrel.

As you know, Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, believing he was under attack, fired at the entry team effecting a no-knock warrant in Louisville, Kentucky, a state which allows no-knock warrants.

Similarly, Mr Clarke fired and injured a soldier in what appears to have been a response to the belief that he was under attack by gunmen. The question is: Where does the fault lie?

People, good people, are dead, so someone must be blamed.

Well, most attacked the salaried law enforcement officers or soldiers. Some attacked the judge who signed the no-knock warrant. Others attacked the entire system. I differ. I blame the men who caused the raids to happen.

Those cops in Louisville, Kentucky and those soldiers in Kingston were there because of narcotics trafficking in the first instance and a narcotics dealer in the second.

None of them went with the aim of killing. None of them even knew the victims. They were there because they are sworn to serve the police force or army they joined. They went there with an honourable purpose to conduct a raid to apprehend criminals.

Both of these operations ended tragically, just like the aerial bombing of France. Innocent people died in an effort to do the right thing. The allies fought Nazi tyranny. The police in Louisville were combatting the evil of narcotics distribution. The soldiers in Kingston were attempting the capture of Jamaica’s greatest villain.

So the blame must lie with the persons who made it all happen. It should not lie with the monthly paid Government worker who is firing for his life at a person he does not know, against whom he bears no ill will and who is firing at him. These are sub-second decisions.

Do not get me wrong, I am not blaming the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, who fired at the police, or Mr Clarke, who fired at the raiding party. Both were defending their lives. I have no doubt they were mistaken as to who was entering their homes. I would have done what they did. But the fault lies with parasites who sell drugs, whether domestically or abroad.

I have never heard the French claim that the bombing of their homeland was motivated by racism or hate. They know that as tragic as it was, it was an effort to fight their common enemy.

The men who raided Breonna Taylor’s home and those who raided Mr Clarke’s home were also fighting against men who make their living on the bounty of the misery of narcotics activity.

Many forget that it was Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s drug trafficking activity that led him to be wanted, not his slaughter of Jamaicans. Odd, isn’t it? Anyhow, that is for another day.

There are issues as to the point at which Mr Clarke injured the soldier versus the point at which he was killed, and these will be ventilated in court. However, I am pretty sure that the shooting of the soldier was a major contributor to the mayhem that followed.

There are also issues as to how the raiding party ended up at both the Taylor and Clarke residences. They are salient issues, but intel men do not do raids. The men being destroyed were there because they were sent there. They had nothing to do with the selection of the targeted premises.

So let us talk narcotics. That is, after all, in the title. I find that narcotics dealers are not as harshly judged as they should be. They are kind of accepted in Jamaica. Many party with them when they are here. Many of them are political activists. Culturally, we do not hate them. I think this is because we do not spend enough time with their customers.

I do not hate. But I have strong feelings about persons who sell drugs. This because as a young man I often worked with drug addicts in various capacities, including protecting them as witnesses.

Let me be frank, a crack addict is the most manipulative creature you will ever meet. The drug turns them into virtual beasts, who will do anything to get the product to satisfy their desire.

The drugs turn good men into criminals and good women into prostitutes. Your children become strangers to you. They will steal from you and watch you starve to satiate their desire.

The dealer sees the deterioration and still continues to sell them this little piece of poison, as they watch their humanity disappearing.

The demise of Breonna Taylor and Keith Clarke began with the poppy plant in Colombia. Had there been no drugs, there would have been no raid, no ‘Shower Posse’, no warrant, no shooting. Narcotics is the mule that pulls the plough that plants the seed of almost every tragedy involving violence. Only lottery scamming is independent of it.

The guns in Jamaica are sent by Jamaican drug dealers in the United States of America. The guns from Haiti are traded for drugs. The guns arm the gangs. The gangs do the killing and the extortion with the guns they got from the drug dealer.

Most violent deaths begin with narcotics. That is why narcotic activity is punishable by death in Singapore, Taiwan and other countries that have low rates of violent crime. The absence of narcotics contributes greatly to their favourable homicide rates.

All good people need to mourn Breonna Taylor and Keith Clarke. We should not be turning on each other with ridiculous allegations and condemnations. We should cry together and then fight together against the true evil among us — the animals who sell poison to our children. They are, ultimately, the reason that Breonna Taylor and Keith Clarke are dead.

Feedback: drjasonamckay@ gmail.com