HUNDREDS MARCH DOWNTOWN AGAINST CHILD ABUSE

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They laid roses for the dead and marched determinedly for those missing and presumed dead.

They celebrated children who are alive, and carried placards for the missing.

They begged adults – some relatives – to stop abusing the children.

They begged neighbours to report abuse – of any kind. They implored communities to become parents of every child. They marched to end violence against children.

Conceptualised by Kingston’s mayor, Dr Angela Brown Burke, the marchers yesterday made their first stop on Church Street at the Secret Gardens monument in honour of hundreds of children who have died violently.

Just a few metres across from the memorial is the mayor’s office, where the hundreds of children and young people gathered to begin their march, which fittingly ended at the park named in honour of St William Grant, one of the stalwarts of the movement for social and economic justice in Jamaica.

In addressing the group, Brown Burke argued that there has been too much violence in Jamaica, and worse, too much violence against our children.

Brown Burke noted that when she was growing up, the “uncomfortable conversations” were mostly about the beginning of menstruation and the age of having sex.

However, with the regular attacks on the nation’s children, Brown Burke said there needs to be more uncomfortable conversations today.

“It may be about family members who are abusing children in the household. It may be about neighbours who know but don’t talk. We must talk, because children deserve our protection,” argued Brown Burke, as she called on every Jamaican to become a crusader for children’s rights.

0 thoughts on “HUNDREDS MARCH DOWNTOWN AGAINST CHILD ABUSE

  1. You know what is sad? It’s that children are not only being abused in their homes, but also at school by teachers and other parents.
    The other day I had to up to my sons school to tell a parent not to put her hand on my child again. If he id being disobedient tell his teacher. The only thing that saved from me being uncivil is the fact that I didn’t want to traumatize the little kids.
    Some teachers are no better, the things they say to these children.
    It is imperative that parent talk to their kids and ask them how’s their day. Let their children feel comfortable speaking to the. If I didn’t do that with my child a lot of things that’s said to him and other kids at school I wouldn’t know.

    1. AMEN!

      To follow another Anon:

      This is a great start …… #stopkillinginnocentchildren

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