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Kamikaze The best way to fight attitude gendarmes – really ?

Dear Editor,

Recently  again - one of our local, native young man had a ‘run-in’ with some members of the Gendarmes and with members of the French immigration-service.
The young man in question - by all accounts - is a very friendly, respectful, professional individual hailing from an equally respected, proud and conscious traditional St. Martin family.
It is not the first time St. Martiners have endured extremely negative, and humiliating experiences with members of the Gendarme.
In fact - many people experience the general attitude of the gendarme vis a vis Black people as if it were some occupational force, having absolutely no respect or regards for them.
As such, we too express our dissatisfaction and condemnation with the way the young St. Martiner was treated, after it became clear that he had his ID-card in his possession, which was the reason in the first place for him being pulled off the bus he was traveling in as passenger.
It appears that when first asked by the authorities for his ID, the young man thought that he did not have that document on him, there and then.
Consequently - he felt that saying that he was a St. Martiner would have sufficed the request of the immigration - officer – it clearly did not.
We will not elaborate on the wisdom of his assumption and of him then trying to leave the scene.
Unfortunately – the situation escalated, the Gendarmes were called to the scene, the young man was roughly hand-cuffed and taken into a holding cell for a number of hours.
This all led to a small blockade by supports of the young men and of his subsequent release.
Thank God, it did not end worse.
But, we believe we all should try to learn from every experience.
What our Grassroots Movement thinks is more important than being led by emotions, is is that we educate our young people to make sure to walk behind the law when such is required.
Trying to take for granted that the Gendarme has to accept them saying they are St. Martiners, unfortunately does not have to ‘cut it’.
In EVERY law-abiding society it is MANDATORY at all times to be able to properly identify oneself when in the public square – period.
Especially in a society where crime, illegal immigration and even terrorism are factors – this should not even be a discussion.
After all, one’s identity, or one’s status is not written on one’s forehead.
And engaging in any confrontation under those circumstances might in fact be an act of KAMIKAZE - using suicide as a weapon.
But, guess what ?
In the worst case the KAMIKAZE soldier is assured of death as the outcome of his/her bravery.
In the best case scenario, he/she becomes the victim of some sorts- and the loser.
Therefore - instead of encouraging our youth to use KAMIKAZE as a means to fight injustice as a first option is not something we would do, because it sets them up to get hurt or worse.
We would advise people in general in such case when one does not have the required document at hand, to start by humbling one-self and acknowledge such.
Also, politely ask if the officer would allow you the opportunity to - for instance make a call to some-one at your home to see if that document can be brought to the site.
Whatever the case- do NOT argue when you are wrong.
That will be just exactly up the alley, if the officer already has a prejudiced mindset.
Better yet perhaps.
It is time, that all Police- and Gendarme cars are equipped with computerized systems hooked up to a data-bank containing information on residency, outstanding taxes, crime-record – you name it.
This way, in the case some-one is pulled over by law-enforcement and they do not have certain documents – the on-board computer can easily and quickly verify the status of the person.
So, instead of blocking roads and using other, in-effective, outdated means of protest, our St. Martin Grassroots Movement would prefer to an intelligent method to protect our youngsters from resorting to using KAMIKAZE to prove a point.
Therefore - we hereby offer those in authority this concrete proposal to prevent unnecessary confrontations on the island.
We are prepared to meet with all relevant authorities to thrash out many contentions within our society.
In ending – another alternative as opposed to simply emotion-laden reactions.
A simple call to our movement would allow our data-bank to verify if the person pulled on the side is registered as an ID-Card holder /St. Martiner on the island.
Promoting the KAMIKAZE approach we will respectfully leave up to others.
One love,

Leopold James,
President St. Martin Grassroots People Movement – the inclusive one.

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