By Tynia Brown
Journal Staff Writer

“Today we face a new fight for the soul of our country” Prime Minister Philip Davis said
during the traditional church crawl, visiting four churches in the historic former slave
village to commemorate and celebrate Fox Hill Emancipation Day.
“Every week,” he lamented, “I have to face one of the most painful parts of my job, in my
briefings from the Commissioner of Police, I see the reports, I hear the names, and I
look at the faces of our young men who have been killed, some of them are under 18,
and more and more, I am seeing a terrible truth, they are being killed by other young
men under 18.”
Continuing he said, “What strikes me most is how many of our young men are being
taken from us, and far too often, it is at the hands of other young men. We must
emancipate ourselves from this cycle of violence, and free our communities from its
grip.”
Mr. Davis said he often wonders how many of the young men committing crimes are
themselves living with a painful loss or had to carry grown-up burdens when they were
still just boys. 
He said, “That pain, if it’s not dealt with, turns into anger, and that anger turns into
revenge. And that’s how the cycle keeps going, unless we choose to break it. This past
week has been far too bloody.  Every life lost breaks a family’s heart. Every shooting
leaves another wound on the soul of our nation.”
Mr. Davis said while the police are doing their part they need more help from the
communities.
He said, “We have given the police every resource they have asked for, more officers,
more vehicles, better tools, better technology, but what they need most cannot be
bought. They need a community that will stand with them.  They need people who will
not look the other way. They need citizens who will speak up when they see trouble.”
He called on parents to inform the police if their children are “going awry” he said “This
will not be pimping, it will be protecting.”
He shared details of a “heartbreaking incident” where a grandmother was shot and
killed while driving her son’s car and a two-year-old grandchild was seriously injured.

He said, “This was not a random act and the family was aware of who the attacker was
targeting, but instead, innocent family members were harmed. If someone had spoken
up earlier, maybe that grandmother would still be with us today. We cannot afford to
stay silent any longer. We must come together, watch out for one another, and step up to
stop this cycle before more lives are lost.
“Do not protect your children in a life of crime. If you know what is going on. Do not
wait until it is too late to tell the police or someone. If your child is caught up in crime,
step in now. Help them change direction before they are lost. Protecting someone who
is causing harm may bring that harm right to your own door,” warned the Prime
Minister.
Turning his attention to the coming political season Mr. Davis said, “Yes, an election
season is coming. Yes, we will have our debates and our disagreements, and we will wear
our party colors.  But we must reject the politics that tells us we have to hate each other
because of who we support.
“Do not let anyone convince you that if you are PLP, you cannot speak to an FNM, or if
you are FNM, you cannot sit with a PLP, and vice versa with the COI.  I have seen us
kneel side by side at the altar, share the same communion cup, sing the same hymns,
and then walk out the door and act like strangers because of politics. That is not who we
are. That is not who God calls us to be,” said the Prime Minister.
He said if we are going to save our young men, we must stand together, families,
churches, communities, government, all working as one as the police cannot do it alone
and the government cannot do it alone, noting that the church can reach places that
laws cannot touch and speak life into places where despair has taken root.
“Intercessors, now more than ever we need you, we need your prayers to cover our
children, our police officers, our leaders, and our country,” The Prime Minister
appealed.