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Tredegar Park had its template in May 1984
Wignall's World
Mark Wignall
Sunday, September 05, 2010
IN the 1980s, Rema was used, abused, chewed and spat out by Tivoli Gardens, its dons and its many guns.
One day in May 1984, word came that Rema had 'dissed' Tivoli. For those who came in late, Rema is in that thick finger poking into the PNP constituency of South St Andrew. Its southern border is with Denham Town.
Constituency border cuts many years ago gave it its status as a JLP pocket in a PNP constituency and for many years it was Tivoli's puppy. Rema men in the 1980s were known as the most fearless and Tivoli used them when our tribal politics was at its worst.
When word came of the diss in May 1984, anywhere between 100 and 500 gunmen from Tivoli Gardens entered Rema through Denham Town, up Collie Smith Drive and every other entry that was possible. In those days, the 'Junglists' above Seventh Street, being PNP, stayed out of the 'war' or atrocity to come on that May day in 1984.
"They came in groups of 20, each group with a walkie-talkie radio," said one man who lives there now. "They were heavily armed and it was a little after midday."
Rema could not retaliate against 'their own' and the force that Jim Brown had amassed that day. "It seemed to me that they were looking for specific men but if they could not find who they were looking for, they simply killed someone who knew the person or was close to him," my source said.
"Conveniently, the Denham Town Police Station, slap on the border of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town, was closed for business that day as the Tivoli gunmen ran wild, killing our people. I was a teenager then and I had taken up shelter in a house above Seventh Street. It was my cousin's house."
In those days the police force, from commissioner right down to constable, was highly politicised.
At the end of the day eight young men were shot dead. "Many people forgot that on the next day the Tivoli gunmen returned and shot dead five more. People just don't want to talk about it," he said.
What we do know is that Jim Brown was arrested, tried and freed in the courts. Outside the courts there was much jubilation. His supporters fired gunshots into the air as the helpless policemen watched and could do little. Jim Brown was a god then.
What we do know is that Eddie Seaga, who was prime minister then, met with those involved and with senior members of his Cabinet -- some of whom are around today -- sat with Jim Brown, drank beer and in an attempt to make peace said, 'Let bygones be bygones.'
In 1984 it was Rema. Thirteen people shot dead in two days. Twenty-six years later, because we failed to properly address the matter and spouted the madness of 'let bygones be bygones' we have had the killings of eight people in Tredegar Park.
We never seem to learn.
Not a good season for politicians
With one scandal after another dogging the ruling JLP administration, and the ghosts of former scandals serving to haunt the Opposition PNP, it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that it is either that our politicians are rotten or the system in place encourages the raiding of the barn and the making of secretive, self-serving deals.
Full Hundred
Wignall's World
Mark Wignall
Sunday, September 05, 2010
IN the 1980s, Rema was used, abused, chewed and spat out by Tivoli Gardens, its dons and its many guns.
One day in May 1984, word came that Rema had 'dissed' Tivoli. For those who came in late, Rema is in that thick finger poking into the PNP constituency of South St Andrew. Its southern border is with Denham Town.
Constituency border cuts many years ago gave it its status as a JLP pocket in a PNP constituency and for many years it was Tivoli's puppy. Rema men in the 1980s were known as the most fearless and Tivoli used them when our tribal politics was at its worst.
When word came of the diss in May 1984, anywhere between 100 and 500 gunmen from Tivoli Gardens entered Rema through Denham Town, up Collie Smith Drive and every other entry that was possible. In those days, the 'Junglists' above Seventh Street, being PNP, stayed out of the 'war' or atrocity to come on that May day in 1984.
"They came in groups of 20, each group with a walkie-talkie radio," said one man who lives there now. "They were heavily armed and it was a little after midday."
Rema could not retaliate against 'their own' and the force that Jim Brown had amassed that day. "It seemed to me that they were looking for specific men but if they could not find who they were looking for, they simply killed someone who knew the person or was close to him," my source said.
"Conveniently, the Denham Town Police Station, slap on the border of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town, was closed for business that day as the Tivoli gunmen ran wild, killing our people. I was a teenager then and I had taken up shelter in a house above Seventh Street. It was my cousin's house."
In those days the police force, from commissioner right down to constable, was highly politicised.
At the end of the day eight young men were shot dead. "Many people forgot that on the next day the Tivoli gunmen returned and shot dead five more. People just don't want to talk about it," he said.
What we do know is that Jim Brown was arrested, tried and freed in the courts. Outside the courts there was much jubilation. His supporters fired gunshots into the air as the helpless policemen watched and could do little. Jim Brown was a god then.
What we do know is that Eddie Seaga, who was prime minister then, met with those involved and with senior members of his Cabinet -- some of whom are around today -- sat with Jim Brown, drank beer and in an attempt to make peace said, 'Let bygones be bygones.'
In 1984 it was Rema. Thirteen people shot dead in two days. Twenty-six years later, because we failed to properly address the matter and spouted the madness of 'let bygones be bygones' we have had the killings of eight people in Tredegar Park.
We never seem to learn.
Not a good season for politicians
With one scandal after another dogging the ruling JLP administration, and the ghosts of former scandals serving to haunt the Opposition PNP, it is easy to arrive at the conclusion that it is either that our politicians are rotten or the system in place encourages the raiding of the barn and the making of secretive, self-serving deals.
Full Hundred
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