Dear Editor,

There are tragedies, and then there are acts so grotesque in their cruelty that they feel less like crimes and more like statements.

The death of Melissa Silvera is one such horror. Because what has emerged is not merely that a woman died, but the violence directed at her was, in my opinion, degrading, an act that spoke not of passion or panic, but of humiliation and dominance.

Which makes the silence of the People’s National Party Women’s Movement — those self-appointed guardians of womanhood — all the more remarkable.

It appears the movement has become something of an heirloom: polished during election season, displayed when politically required, and promptly returned to storage the moment real courage is required. But what, pray tell, is the purpose of a women’s movement that will not defend women when the discomfort is close to home? A relic of braver days?

Melissa deserved better than whispers and careful politics. Jamaican women deserve better than selective advocacy. And the public deserves movements with spines, not slogans.

As ever, we watch.

And we remember who spoke, and who very deliberately did not.

Lady Whistledung