Most people accept that World War II began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939. This is true, although a lot was happening with both Germany and Japan, operating in Europe, and in the Pacific region, respectfully, that would suggest an earlier date for the beginning of the crisis.

Either way, Poland was hit hard, its army brutally wiped out, the population subjugated for years, its Jewish citizens literally, and almost totally exterminated.

Despite this, there was a group of Polish citizens called the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade who supported the Nazi regime. They actively assisted the Germans to kill and control their fellow Polish citizens. This type of insanity was not limited to a group in Poland. The Vichy political movement was very much a French organisation and became the Government of France whilst it was occupied by the Germans in World War II. They gave their support, despite the fact that French citizens were being murdered, raped, and subjugated by the Nazis for the entire occupation.

Well earlier, I said that this “insanity” was not limited to Poland. It also was not limited to World War II. During apartheid South Africa, the Inkatha Freedom Party, which was a party of blacks, openly collaborated with the apartheid Government during the 70s and 80s and up to the early 90s, before South Africa was liberated by the election of the Nelson Mandela-led African National Congress.

This was not the only black group that supported the apartheid party in their subjugation of black citizens in South Africa. As a young man, I observed cricketers I literally worshipped, from Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, give their support to apartheid South Africa by defying a position from all decent nations to desist from participating in sport against the racist Government.

I recognised that the Jamaican and Caribbean cricketers were driven by greed. I can’t quite understand what drives actual citizens of a country to support an enemy against their people, or a government intent on suppressing a group.

I don’t understand the aforementioned Holy Cross Mountain Brigade, the Inkatha Freedom Party, or the black consciousness movement or the members of the Vichy political party. Neither do I understand why Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) does not condemn, with more regularity, the gangs of Jamaica. If you believe that apartheid South Africa was a more brutal group than the gangs of Jamaica, let me bring you up to speed with the activities of gangs in my neck of the woods.

I have been involved in the policing of the St Catherine South Police Division for over two decades. During that period I have witnessed the gangs in my division murder more than 2,000 people.

Let me tell you about a few of their worst pieces of work and you tell me if you think that apartheid South Africa’s President PW Botha had anything on them. I was one of dozens of police who responded to the murder of two children — one teenage girl and a nine-year-old boy with Down syndrome — in Newland some years ago. They were shot dead in their home while hiding from their attackers. To this day, I can’t figure out the motive, or the mind that led a sane human being to do something so evil, and cowardly.

I can also recall some years after that, responding to a scene where a brother and sister were killed because their mother was involved with an enemy of a gang. More recently, I responded to another scene where three females and a child were burned alive by gang members who lit their house and shot at them when they tried to escape.

Just this year I responded to a triple murder — three young men and a dog were killed with the brutality that would make any member of the Ku Klux Klan blush.

I don’t know what more has to be done by Jamaican gang members to convince people, including JFJ, that they are brutal enough to be considered an enemy in keeping with apartheid South Africa or the Nazi party. Or even what more the gangs have to do to at least convince people that they are not worthy of support or protection.

The gangs in my division are no more brutal than gangs in Spanish Town, Hunts Bay, western Kingston, Clarendon, or Montego Bay. Brutality, cruelty, and murder are the calling cards of Jamaican street gangs. They have proven their effectiveness, and the risk they pose to innocent citizens of Jamaica.

The demonstration by JFJ last week, despite its failure, is no less a disgrace to our country than the Inkatha Freedom Party was to South Africa, or more specifically Black South Africa.

The actions by Jamaican civilians to wear blue to counter this group is to be applauded and sets the stage for a creation of a group within civil society to oppose this group masquerading as a human rights organisation.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, if this group had any interest whatsoever in the human rights of Jamaican citizens then they would be protesting the gangs that have killed 231 for this year already.

If they find that the gangs are so deserving, then, by extension, why are the victims of the gangs so undeserving of their activism?

They need to stop ignoring this question.

The Klansman gang has, for decades, subjugated the rights of Jamaican citizens in Spanish Town. Why don’t JFJ come and stage a demonstration at Dela Vega City? The police will give them protection.

Why don’t they go to Tawes Pen where the One Order gang rules with an iron fist? Well, the one constant is that all of the misguided organisations that I made reference to eventually failed or changed their position.

Maybe Jamaicans For Justice will realise that Jamaica, and Jamaicans are weary of the gangs and fed up with them, and the lure of foreign funding will soon lose its flavour.

But just in case, would the Jamaicans who wore blue step up one more time, form a proper organisation, and spend some time opposing this lobby group whilst supporting the armed forces of their country and the victims of 50 years of gang atrocities?

I have my fingers crossed that you will take the next step.

Feedback: drjasonamckay@gmail.com