Choose peace over violence.

This was the message delivered by Minister in the Office of the Attorney General with Responsibility for Crime Prevention, Corey Lane, as he spoke during Wednesday’s launch of the Tyrese Caesar Foundation’s Anti-Violence Peace Programme at Blackman and Gollop Primary School.

Lane told students, that having conducted previous work within the island’s schools and prison system, it was important for them to choose peace over violence, as such delinquent behavior never has positive outcomes.

“I used to go to primary schools in the morning and prison in the afternoon. One day I did it in reverse and it caused me great pause; it caused me to check myself. What I saw in the primary schools at that time, I felt like I was seeing the beginning of persons on a pathway to prison – the same language, dirty words, the same tattoos, and all of that. I said to myself it is really at this level that we must engage with you, to help you to understand why it is you should choose peace.”
He added: “There are too many people in our society today, whether we look in our home communities, whether we look in our schools, or across the world – that choose war over peace. What does it bring but pain, mayhem, destruction, death, depression, sadness? But peace brings to you joy, prosperity and a good feeling.
“Sometimes, to be a badman and a badgirl and so on, it [looks] cool; I must admit, it does look real good. But at the end of the day . . . it just brings problems.”

The Tyrese Caesar Foundation’s P.E.A.C.E. Programme, which collaborates with the National Peace Programme, aims to create a safe, supportive school climate for students to learn in; encourage students to take responsibility for their role in maintaining safe school environments, including student participation in safety and peace initiatives; emphasize the importance of reporting potential problems to school officials; and remind students of the importance of resisting bullying.