Reclaiming Flankers - Peace centre seeks to rescue troubled community

from the Jamaica Gleaner

By Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Mention the name of Flankers in Montego Bay to Jamaicans who are familiar with current affairs, and they could tell you a thing or two that are not impressive about it.

This image is, however, being changed by the work of the Flankers Peace and Justice Centre, which has been able to bring down the incidents of crime and violence in the community.

Allan Bernard and his team have been influential in the whole process. Bernard, who is Flankers-born and bred, has seen his community go through many stages of change in both peace and violence.

Bernard, a UWI graduate now pursuing a PhD at the University of Cape Town, described Flankers as a community with inner-city features which include violence, poverty, unemployment and strong family bonds. He said over the years, rivalries have developed in the community, fostering hate and gruesome murders.

A series of interventions

Bernard said transformation, which took and will take more time, occurred through a series of interventions. Leadership was the first step, he said.

"I have to start out by saying that it takes real serious committed leadership from everybody who considers themselves to be leaders, and I am talking about those who you consider illegitimate, because everyone has to come on deck," he said.

Bernard also stressed the involvement of different organisations in the community such as the Church, civic organisations and the police.

The other important interventions include the ownership of the process by community members, including law-abiding citizens and gang members alike, and those considered as the 'good youth'.

"The other important thing was getting the buy-in. We had to get the buy-in from everybody, meaning that the Police High Command ... the political directorate, everybody has to buy into it," he continued.

One intervention targeted the family members of those involved in gangs, such as parents, spouses and children, through different programmes. These programmes included welfare programmes for the elderly, gainful employment for spouses, and classes for the children.

"What we recognise clearly, is that we have to address what we call societal problems, because even though we nah say we a tek weh the responsibility away from those a pull the triggers, but you have to admit that you have societal problems that do contribute to these behaviours."

Bernard said that this targeting "softened" up the gang leaders who wanted to come to the table to meet and talk.

At this stage, they involved the police in a way which integrated them in the community. Sports, in this regard, played an important role as members of different sections of the community played a game each Sunday with police personnel.

He said this was so successful that most of the members of the gangs came out to play and after the game, they went to the centre and ate and socialised.

This broke down the taboo of talking to the police. Because the police were in the community talking to the residents every day, talking to them did not seem strange.

Reducing mental barriers

Entertainment sessions were also used to bring the community together, as members of each community went to each other's dances, which reduced the mental barriers in the communities.

When Inspector Donald Francis of the Mobile Reserve of the Jamaica Constabulary Force was sent to the community to deal with the flare-ups, which had become unbearable in November 2007, there had already been 31 murders as a result of the feud between sections of Pele Drive and Red Dirt/Vietnam. Now, he has seen the positive influence of the centre and believes it has assisted him in doing a better job in the community.

"The relative peace is there and both factions have a willingness to deal with the peace, this time, though they are cautious. But there is 90 per cent participation from both sides."

Keeping the peace

Inspector Francis believes, most importantly, that the community members have latched on to the idea and do not want to see a return to what it was before

Joan Munroe Green says the project has been beneficial for the community of Flankers. Munroe Green has been a member of the community for over 25 years and according to her, she has seen it all. She, however, believes that the centre and its techniques have transformed the community.

"It has impacted on Flankers in a positive way. Before, no one cared about the community and its members. I am glad they saw the need and the services that they (community centre) give now can address every problem that a community could have."

Munroe Green was also impressed with how the centre was able to get the community members from the opposing sections to come together to 'reason' and stop the war. She is also hopeful it will be around for the long haul.

"It can be sustained a far way. We know that we are far from being perfect, but we can sustain it, as community members want change. The Peace and Justice Centre is the liaison officer that keeps the peace."

Fact file on Flankers

# Located on the outskirts of Montego Bay, adjacent to the Sangster International Airport and the Montego Bay leg of Highway 2000.

# Bordered to the east by the Ironshore Industrial Complex and the community of Norwood to the south.

# The Flankers Peace and Justice Centre, formed in 2002, has been nominated for the Michael Manley Award for Community Self-Reliance this year.

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