New York, USA - A very likely scenario, based on recent events at the pan yards in New York, and an ever-present possibility of a steelband pan yard 'shut down' gone horribly wrong. A Steelband Tale explores that perspective, and hopes it NEVER happens...
“There was blood, carnage and gore everywhere. The sound of the screeching tires and sirens coming from the ambulances were only momentarily silenced by the blood-curdling screams and howls of horrified parents bent over injured children, and others crying over the bodies of their parents, siblings and loved ones.”
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http://www.schoolcraftjustice.com/SchoolcraftAmended.pdf
My reference to over dramatizations are about the "what if" worst case scenarios as presented, also on this site.
They remind me of the "Mushroom Cloud " scenario that the Bush administration used the justify us getting into that stupid Iraq war.
We all know what the problems are.
What we need are solutions, or else twenty years from now we will be wringing our hands and gnashing out teeth over another
incident just like this.
Like the man said, "Deja vu all over again".
.
The Iraq war happened because people wanted blood - anybody's blood. Bush gave them what they wanted.
bugs
WST made it easy for us. We can wipe our collective brows, go "whew, it was just a bad dream, just a story". There will be no real pain, no real consequences and we can crawl back under the coward rocks and masks we hide under and behind. One day it is going to catch up with us and there will be real consequences and real pain for our lack of action.
There is a large Hasidim community literally a block away from Sonatas panyard. Can anyone ever imagine the police showing up at any of their many events with such a force? They - the Hasidim community - have blocked off streets and have even had real confrontations with the police. Yet we would all find such a show of force by the police provocative and unnecessary if it happened to them. Why is it okay for this behavior to happen to us?
I do not live in the New York area, but I know that this is not the first time that incidents such as this one has occurred.
I am simply stating that a overly dramatic description of the events does nothing to get at the root of the problem.
Personally, I think it is a grievous insult to the community the way in which the entire West Indian Festival is treated, considering the revenue that is generated by the festivities for the City and State.
This includes the outrageous fees charges to small vendors for licensing, and chasing the parade off the Parkway when it's at its peak.
I reiterate the fact that the only way to deal with these and other problems facing the community is through political action.
It means organizing voter blocs as bargaining chips to get political support.
I know that many of us Island people are reluctant to acquire US citizenship, considering it as a betrayal of their native land.
But this is our country now, and most of us have a stake here and are not going back.
So we need that vote.
Whether we like it or not it is to our advantage to get the right to vote.
We need to be more active politically if we want the politicians (and the police) to respond to our concerns.
I am more interested in why you think this happened, before we even discuss the fix?
bugs
The New York politicians are well aware of the political potential in the West Indian community, that's why the show up at the West Indian festivals.
They know where the votes are.
West Indian community leaders have to harness that political potential in the community and use it to advance the interests of the West Indian and other minority communities.
This includes the Steelband Association(s) and the people at WIADCA.
And Noah has a point. We know there is a major problem here. There is no need to over dramatize.
.
bugs
This may not be your reality but it is for many of us who live here in New York. As a parent who has a child who plays pan in NY this is something we have to come to terms with. These issues go far beyond the panyard. WST simply forced us to deal with our worst nightmare.
bugs
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