Most news stories in Jamaica are ‘nine day wonders’ - an issue seizes the nation’s attention, is heatedly discussed for a week or so, and then is forgotten. But the Montego Bay street people incident refuses to go away.

People are naturally disgusted that no one is taking responsibility. But the ‘buck stops nowhere’ is the very motto of Jamaican public life. And while our leaders seem truly shameless, are not elected politicians a reflection of the public they represent? Do they not come from the people? Are they not chosen by us?

Jamaican businessmen display no more public conscience than our politicians - look at Blaize Trust and Workers’s Bank.  And remember the unplayable Sabina Park pitch debacle? The honourable gentlemen of the Jamaican and West Indian Cricket Boards not only refused to take responsibility, they denied there was a problem. It is not ‘they’ that lack integrity, it is all of us.

Still, the public response to the street people affair goes beyond politics. A deep national chord of empathy and guilt was touched.  As Elizabeth Hall of the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI) says

“These people were picked up and told they were being taken to the hospital for medication. Those who resisted were tied up and pepper sprayed. Then they were taken in a dump truck like garbage and abandoned at the mud lake.

To me it was like a slap in the face. I felt ashamed at this illegal abuse of individuals’ rights. Is this the level Jamaica has sunk to, where we dispose of those unable to help themselves like garbage? And then to hear about the children in the lock ups. What kind of people have we become? What will we hear about next? Street children being killed by police death squads like in Brazil?”

Ironically, thanks mainly to CUMI, Montego Bay has the best street people program in Jamaica. Joy Crooks, a registered nurse trained in general and mental health care, is the program’s director.

“Since we started in 1991 CUMI has proven beyond doubt that most street people are rehabitable. We refer to our patients as clients and treat them with dignity and respect. Over 250 clients have gone through our program and been discharged as functional members of the community. Several of our clients were among those ‘dumped’ at the mud lake. They have been traumatized and much of the trust that has been built up has been lost. You can’t force these people into treatment, you have to win their confidence.

We have a regular outreach pickup where we take street people to have a shower, shave and haircut and then give them lunch at the CUMI centre. Sometimes a person has to be picked up six times before he trusts us enough to go into voluntary treatment. The dumping incident has forced us to put the outreach program on hold, because the street people are now suspicious of everyone.

There is an argument for removing street people. We are a resort city that is economically dependent on the tourist industry, and unkempt street people are not attractive to visitors. But if we must remove them, proper housing and treatment facilities should be set up. Treat them as human beings, not as refuse. Not all these street people are nice individuals. Many are men who never showed any family responsibility and are now shunned by children they never supported. Some have done dreadful things. But some are good people who just had things turn out wrong. Some are too old and sick to function by themselves even when relatives abroad send money. It is not our job to judge. We feel that those who have fallen for whatever reason should be helped if possible. There but for the grace of god goes any of us.”

Who was behind the dumping? A police source says big shots were involved.

“A group of highly placed politicians, major music promoters, big hotel guys, and members of a prominent city business organization got together and gave some police superintendents $500,000 to move the street people. It was a parish council truck that was used. The superintendents kept $400,000 and gave $50,000 to an inspector and $10,000 to five policemen to do the job. They were supposed to move them in two and threes over a period of time so no one would notice. But when the inspector heard of the big money the superintendents got, he got vexed and made one big lift.

The media is offering a reward for information about the dumping, which is good. But how about the media using their clout to organize a benefit concert for CUMI? Many artistes would perform for free, and people would support it. All of us Jamaicans are feeling guilty and rightly so. A benefit concert would enable us to contribute and feel like we are doing something. Maybe it could become an annual event.”

This dumping incident certainly does not reflect well on Jamaica as a society. Yet the media outcry and public outrage show that we still respect the rights of even helpless individuals. In places like Cuba and Singapore homeless ‘deviants’ are simply bundled off to jail and heard of no more. And Mrs. Crooks still finds Jamaicans a compassionate people.  Over 75% of CUMI’s budget of about $2 million comes from donations. If not for the generosity of the man on the street, it could not survive.

A CUMI is needed in every parish, and already there is CLASP in Clarendon, WASP in Westmoreland and St. Anne’s Mission. But NGOs can only do so much. CUMI for example is an urban, crisis management program. Taking on any more would stretch its limited resources too thin. Only a national program can properly address the homeless issue. Arnold Bertram’s proposals sound good, but will the government put its money where its mouth is?

After he defected from the Soviet Union in 1990, the Russian writer Vitali Vitaliev tried to define freedom.

“A totalitarian system either ignores the fallen or destroys them, physically and morally. The thing that struck me most during my first months in the West was the humane attitude towards the disabled. What the great poet Pushkin called ‘mercy to the fallen’ is the most characteristic trait of a civilized society. It implies clemency and compassion for our less fortunate fellow beings living on the society’s fringe – tramps, beggars, prostitutes, drug-addicts and criminals. Yes, criminals too, for every felon is a deplorable mistake of society. A caring community should feel responsible for its stranded sons and daughters who have stumbled on life’s bumpy road. It should extend a helping hand, not push them further into the abyss.”