Up to the time of writing this column, we have heard from the citizens, the church, the media, and the NDM, about the horrible slaying of three residents in a community with the picturesque name of Lauriston. But we haven’t heard a single word from either major political party. Well, heck, some wicked people must have ganged up and stolen their microphones! We scanned the media reports to see if any politicians turned up at the Holy Trinity Cathedral for the funeral of Khajeel Mais: not a one.

Are some politicians carefully hoarding their thugs for those unsavoury campaign practices that have so sullied our country’s good name abroad? Such is the practice of desperadoes, people who value power and money over life and a healthy fear of God. I could not believe that women in politics especially, did not utter words of condemnation of the gang violence that massacred a bright young woman about to start at UWI and mutilated her God-fearing mother.

In both political parties there are good men and women who rightly believe that you cannot change the system if you are not a part of it. But that requires the courage to remain objective and to call unrighteousness by its right name. When a nation becomes so depraved that its women’s lives are so horrendously ended, we suffer on many levels. Not only are we mourning the death of our Jamaican sisters, we are also dealing with psychological and spiritual injury, one keenly felt by those closest to Charmaine Rattray and her 19-year-old daughter Joyette Lynch.

The Observer reported, “Residents listened and cowered helplessly as the women’s horrified screams pierced the morning’s silence.” Those screams will echo in the troubled minds of those who heard. This column has referred to the phenomenon of “collective grief” in which a community or a country mourn a tragic event.

Last year, there were articles in the American press about collective grief over the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The outcry against the assassination attempt on Giffords was similar to the outpouring of grief over the death of young Khajeel Mais, the Kingston College sixth-former who, it is alleged, was shot dead by an angry motorist after the taxi which was taking Khajeel to a fete bumped into a vehicle in the quiet suburb of Havendale.

We are grateful that the media helped us through the seven stages of grief with their interviews of Khajeel’s family members, coverage of the funeral and the legal actions being brought against the alleged offender. These stages are: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing and acceptance.

Unfortunately, our collective grief may not get the same therapy from the shocking slaughter of the two women of Lauriston. Their relatives and friends may very well be too fearful to express their grief, denying themselves and the wider Jamaican community the opportunity to participate in the painful but cathartic process. This is why we should value the school spirit of Kingston College Old Boys who kept the Khajeel Mais story live and vivid on the social media, even as the authorities played a bit of hide-and-seek over making an arrest. Jamaica needs a good dose of “Fortis” if we are to face up to this monster that obviously has a lien on the free expression of politicians.

If solutions to issues of law and order, health, education and the environment seem obvious to the average Joe yet beyond the reach of the leaders, it could be that they are wading in a bog of political expediency with a very strong undertow. PM Golding gave us a clue to this conundrum when he went on national television to apologise for his handling of the Manatt-Dudus issue. Joan Gordon-Webley gave us cause to hope, when she referred to some powerful offenders who were fined for their careless management of their solid waste.

In the Opposition, we have Dr Peter Phillips who soldiers on, batter-bruised as he is for having spoken out against the threat of gang-influenced politics and the failings of his party leader, and Ronnie Thwaites who has kept his credibility with focused arguments within and useful commentary without Gordon House.

However, the JLP and PNP had better know that the country is disenchanted with them both. The PNP may be looking good in the polls, but the movers and shakers who can make or break the party are not over-enthused with its combative approach. This is a time in the history of Jamaica when political parties have a real opportunity to re-invent themselves and win over the hearts of Jamaicans.

The first step is to identify the issues which are affecting the widest cross-section of Jamaicans and show daily, hourly that you are working diligently and creatively to solve them.

Feedback on the ground is that Jamaica is ripe for a third party and Mr Golding may be ruing the day when he left the NDM to return to the JLP. The NDM has spoken up where the JLP and PNP have been silent. In a release on Thursday night the NDM called for a State of Emergency in St Catherine:

“The NDM has expressed outrage and believes that the murderous gangs in the Spanish Town area and its environs needs to be crushed and it may take the necessary measures of a State of Emergency to effect the clean-up of the Klansman and One Order gangs.

“We are confident that with the Honourable Delroy Chuck in place as Justice Minister, the rights of citizens will not be unduly infringed.”

No buses, no flags, no vaunted briefing – just a straight-talking communiqué demanding that we protect our citizens. The Jamaican people are ready to embrace that voluble new child, born of democracy and a red-hot social media. Free speech may finally free us. Please read my poem, For our Sisters We Rise at www.poetry-lowrie-chin.blogspot.com.

lowriechin@aim.com