Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 04, 2014 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
A headline on page 20 of the Kaieteur News, December 2, caught me off guard, but moreso was enough to affect my equilibrium: “Guyanese from “poor, violent village” faces death penalty in the U.S”. However, before giving my take on this sad saga, I wish to be informed as to which village in Guyana reference is being made regarding both the poverty and the violence.
The mainstream foreign societies do feel that poverty, squalor and violence abound in Third World countries, and in all likelihood view Otis Phillips and his heinous acts as being representative of the so-called norm. What has been overlooked is that the potential death row inmate left his native shores at the age of nine, and has resided more than three times that period in the United States.
So pray tell me how much violence could a seven-year-old have seen that would shape his life, alter his way of thinking, and catapult him into a life of crime? Do I sense subtle blame-shifting?
Here in the Western society, poor parenting due to affluence has been used as an excuse for murder, but appears to be exclusive to certain members of society, having the right complexion for the proper protection. To affix its rightful name – ‘affluenza’, and in addition put it in its rightful context – rich parents.
Plainly put, it is the lack of accountability and belief among entitled rich kids that money can solve all problems. This defence proved lifesaving in June 2013 for a North Texas teen from an affluent family who was sentenced to ten years of probation after he confessed to intoxication manslaughter in a crash on a dark, rural road that killed four pedestrians.
Sadly, the converse as a defence is yet to be put on trial. Are poverty and poor parenting to be held accountable for Otis’ crime-ridden life, or is he a product of a social and educational system that failed yet another black youth. Certainly he did not slip through the cracks, as the system did have prior knowledge of his mental deficits.
The court records state that he was diagnosed as having a low IQ and a learning disability. What remedial measures on the part of the State were taken to correct this deficit, of which the defence attorney Michael Hayden is now pleading that they be used as mitigating factors?
According to him, his parents abandoned him at age seven, when they migrated to the United States, only to send for him two years later. If he was not part of their daily thoughts, perhaps he would still be residing in the violent village, and not facing the death penalty in a foreign country. Furthermore, in whose care was he left following parental migration, and what type of activities constituted part of his scenario at age seven, that would have such a damning impact on his adulthood.
What was the paternal rationale for leaving a child behind? Did dad have an early peek into behaviours that were headed in the direction of the criminal and ultimately penal system?
Immigration is a prominent part of the United States, nevertheless concerns still exist about immigrants’ ability to integrate into broader society. Case in question: it is blatantly apparent that Otis falls squarely into the category of those who have failed to integrate effectively. According to prosecutors, the defendants were members of a criminal street gang known as the Sure Shots and were out to avenge a friend’s killing earlier that day. They also said Otis Phillips wanted to silence Herman Curry so that he could not testify against him in Christopher Palmer’s killing.
Witnesses testified that Otis Phillips walked up to Curry on the soccer field, tapped him on the shoulder, told him he was going to die, then shot him three times. Authorities said co-defendant Jeffrey Phillips shot into the crowd, killing 16-year-old Alexander Kamara Jr., as he and Otis Phillips tried to escape. In addition to murder and manslaughter, the defendant was convicted of several other charges, including gang participation, conspiracy, assault, reckless endangering and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Rather than Otis seeking to correct his deficits, he sought to edify himself in a negative manner by joining a gang. Well as the saying goes even in the U.S. “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”. It’s a lesson seemingly too late for the learning.
Yvonne Sam
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