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What about Vanessa Kirkland?
with Leighton Levy
Everything is a nine-day wonder in this country. It's so bloody annoying.
I watched with great interest how millions rallied behind the family of Trayvon Martin, who was presumably shot dead by George Zimmerman who had apparently thought Martin to be a threat to his neighbourhood. The shooter was charged this week with second-degree murder. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.
A short while after that incident occurred in the US, Vanessa Kirkland, a 16-year-old student of Immaculate Conception High and a resident of Greenwich Farm, was gunned down by the police here in Jamaica. She was inside a car that was fired upon by police, who had the car surrounded.
As usual, there was a little spark of public outcry and then silence. We have apparently moved on.
About a month later, how many Jamaicans remember Vanessa's name? But we all know about Trayvon Martin, don't we? We know every detail of his life and how the case has been going.
People here in Jamaica are posting about Trayvon Martin on the Facebook pages as if it was the greatest travesty ever inflicted upon mankind, but you don't see them posting anything about Vanessa Kirkland, who was shot dead right here under our noses. Clearly, we have grown so accustomed to the smell of death, we can't even recognise the stench anymore.
Often the media gets blamed for causing things. Ignorant and myopic deejays put out a load of crap every day, poisoning the minds of the young, ignorant and impressionable youth here in Jamaica, and it's the media's fault. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, in the case of Vanessa Kirkland and others like her, the media has clearly dropped the ball.
Kirkland is so obviously no longer the flavour of the month. Her story is now old. It's not so 'sexy' anymore. The reason why Martin's death put so much pressure on the authorities in the United States is that the media in the United States kept it in their faces and ours every day for the past two months. It might have begun as a race for ratings, but it also served a less selfish cause.
the Kirkland's bandwagon
Here in Jamaica, the media was on the Kirkland's bandwagon for a few days, and that was it. Since that time, some entertainer named Potential Kidd singing about sexual misconduct and the shooting of television personality Jody Ann Gray have stolen Kirkland's thunder. The story about Gray's misfortune is on the news almost every night and not a thing is wrong with that, but shouldn't we also be seeing more about Kirkland as well?
What is happening with the investigation? Where are the policemen who were on that operation, and why have they not yet been charged? Why, also, is the media not keeping Vanessa Kirkland, who could very well have grown up to become Jamaica's next prime minister or our next great academic, and her tragic story at the forefront of the news.
Yes, there are many things to report on, but hers is not even three months old yet, but it feels like it happened five years ago already, because we journalists have dropped the ball once again.
What we fail to realise is that, as media, if we help one family get justice, just one, we would have done our jobs. It could also start a process of transformation that Jamaica so desperately needs. Sometimes we who are in the media get so wrapped up in our own self-importance, we tend to forget that we have an obligation to live up to. Life in Jamaica is not just about the politics, it should also be about initiating positive change.
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