Dear Editor,
The brutal assault of a nurse by a businessman, complete with video footage of him stomping on her head and pointing a firearm at her, shocked the conscience of the nation. The outrage is justified. The cries for justice were deafening.
The accused man has been arrested, denied bail, and it is likely that the system, under immense public pressure, will throw the proverbial book at him.
But let me be brutally honest, this is not about this one man. Yes, he must be held accountable. Yes, his actions were reprehensible. But if we think that punishing him to the fullest extent of the law will fix anything in this broken society of ours, we are dangerously deluded.
The likes of Robert Bell are not the disease; they are the symptom. The real sickness is Jamaica’s unrelenting, intergenerational addiction to violence.
From the playground to Parliament, from homes to highways, from neighborhoods to news headlines, we are marinating in rage. We have normalised vengeance. We are quick to insult, quicker to draw blood, and absolutely allergic to humility, patience, and dialogue.
We beat our children to “teach them lessons”, then act surprised when they solve their disputes with fists, knives, or guns. We glorify “badness”, devalue life, and laugh at trauma. And let us not pretend this is about class either, violence is an equal opportunity virus in Jamaica. Whether uptown or garrison, boardroom or back road, the culture is the same: Power is proven through domination. Manhood is defined by aggression. Respect is earned through fear.
So, while this one man may face a long sentence, Jamaica is still on trial. Our streets are filled with ticking time bombs; young men who have never been taught how to manage anger, how to de-escalate, how to feel without shame. Boys who have only seen love expressed through discipline, and strength proven through silence or savagery. If we do not intervene early and often, if we do not start rewiring hearts and minds from the schoolyard to the statehouse, then we are simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Let me be clear, behaviour modification is not optional, it is urgent. We need national programmes that prioritise emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and trauma-informed care in our schools, juvenile facilities, churches, and communities. We need to train teachers, parents, and police officers not just in control, but in compassion. We need to teach our young people that power lies not in who you can beat down, but in who you can lift up. That real respect is earned not by intimidation, but by integrity.
We must stop pretending that broken men will raise whole children. Until we deal with our generational traumas, until we acknowledge the deep roots of our rage, and until we commit to teaching tolerance as deliberately as we now punish defiance, we will remain a nation dancing on the edge of anarchy.
So, yes, let the courts do what they must but let us not waste this moment with empty outrage. Instead, let this be a national wake-up call. Not just for justice, but for change. Systemic, soul-deep, society-wide change. Jamaica does not need another scapegoat, we need a cultural exorcism. As our elders say, “If yuh nuh hear, yuh gwine feel.” Well, we have been feeling for too long. Now it is time to listen and act.

Dr Richie Lindo
zlilprofessor@gmail.com