The bombing of Dresden in Germany in February 1945 was an aerial attack conducted by the British and American military in World War II against Nazi Germany.

It was particularly brutal to the civilian population, resulting in the death of approximately 35,000 non-combatants.

A total of 3,900 tons of bombs were dropped on the city. It has been looked on by many as unnecessarily brutal.

Germany, England and the United States of America today are close allies who support each other in the world of international diplomacy and global politics.

Many speak of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an act of unspeakable horror. And it is. But in respect of the extent of damage it caused, it doesn’t hold a candle to the bombing of Hanoi in North Vietnam in 1972. That attack literally bombed parts of Hanoi back to the stone age.

Today, a lot of the clothing you purchase in the United States is manufactured in Vietnam, and both governments have put their past behind them in the name of commerce.

The attack on the military base of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii 1941 was undeclared, savage and caused significant human suffering, killing over 2,400. It also disabled the pacific fleet to an extent where it was unable to prevent the takeover of the Philippines by the Japanese, that resulted in more loss of life of American military personnel and extreme suffering of American prisoners of war.

This nasty piece of history has not stood in the way of Honda or Toyota from levelling the American motor vehicle market. In fact, both governments enjoy a harmonious and productive relationship.

My point is that irrespective of the former conduct of governments or groups, future generations can mend fences and move forward.

Jamaica has its own nasty history of the 70s to wrestle with. Thousands lost their lives, many killed by persons they knew their entire life.

We have chosen as a people to pretend it didn’t happen and I have expressed my views on this approach before.

What differs between us and the former examples I noted is that we have not really moved forward.

This may not be obvious to the average person who may not even know of our former civil war.

I would advise those who think it’s ancient history and has no impact on our current crime to look on the gang lines in Spanish Town between the Klansmen and the One Order gangs and see how political it really is. Similar examples exist in west and east Kingston.

Then there is the minds and souls of those who lived through it who maintain the hate they learnt and have passed it on to their children.

I once had a martial arts fighter who was participating in an international competition held locally. His grandfather was his greatest fan. In keeping with our national colours the supporter jerseys were green with touches of gold and black.

The elder gentleman refused to wear it as he was a supporter of the People’s National Party which wears orange and their opponent the Jamaica Labour Party wore green.

He even said if he has to wear it he would not attend the championship. That man otherwise on any given day was an intelligent, reasonable person.

We as a nation have not forgiven each other and the lines we drew in the sand have been followed by our young, without even realising why they were drawn.

The reason a schoolboy won’t venture into a neighbouring community to visit a young lady because “we nuh deal wit dem bwoy ova de”, is that way because he only knows that the community is a rival community and he has no knowledge that it is because 50 years ago the leaders of his country and their opposition were more concerned with their power than his future.

The question I ask is why is it that Germany and England can put away their differences despite the bloodshed between them, but gangs in St Catherine cannot.

Although not one conflict today exists because of a violent act in the 70s, most violent gangs spring from the roots of the political conflict of the 70s.

Literally, the only part of the 70s that still stand today are the unmoved gang parameters they created. There are slight alterations such as Wilton Gardens, o/c ‘Rema’, which was previously aligned to gangs in Tivoli Gardens, but broke that connection in the late 80s.

There is literally no political loyalty among this generation of gangsters. They couldn’t care less about who wants to run for public office in their community. They know as a fact that their income will come from extortion, drug dealers abroad and scamming.

The political representative is simply a voice in the wilderness that may bring some free bus rides to conferences and political meetings.

So why does the hate continue?

Why do young men who attended the same kindergarten, stoned the same ackee trees together and walked from community to community as little children become enemies as adolescents.

It is almost like it is a foregone conclusion that they will wage war against each other once they number among the idle and the dunce and simply reach the age where conflict is expected and yes, it will be on the same gang lines drawn in 1974.

There was a gang in Grant’s Pen which became notorious for abducting women and raping them and abducting men, who they robbed and murdered. This was in the early 2000s.

One was particularly violent and came from a family of gang members that was also that inclined. His father and uncles were of a similar ilk. His brother, strangely enough, was and is a productive member of society.

The violent one was always in conflict with a rival gang that supported the PNP. Most of whom he killed and wanted to kill were men who as boys roamed the Grant’s Pen gully with him. He was eventually convicted for killing a young bank employee I knew and I had arrested one of his gang cronies for kidnapping and raping a young lady.

I took the opportunity to research this lost cause to see not what caused him to be a robber, rapist, kidnapper, killer and coward, but rather what caused him to hate the men he befriended as toddlers.

I found it can be explained in one word, “Inculcation”.

His family were Grant’s Pen residents for generations. They were part of the community divided by politics in the 70s. The hate he learnt was taught by me and my father’s generation. We experienced the conflict, more so my father’s own than mine. But the two generations who lived the 70s civil war taught the lessons of hate to the generation that followed.

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