Lost For Words

I write to you today with 2 days of built up anger in my heart.

Why am I angry? Because Jamaica has yet again proven itself to be a country that is incapable of dealing with its many social and moral issues.

The Government has always had trouble controlling the country's violence, as stories of completely inhumane and seemingly unrealistic crimes committed to people of all ages, colours and sizes circulate in the country on a daily basis.

In April of this year, Jamaica was in the news for an alleged "hijacking" by a 23-year old Stephen Fray. He was able to skip through all security points and board a CanJet airplane headed to Cuba. No one was injured in the process, nothing was robbed, and one shot was said to be fired in the air by Fray, who demanded to be flown to Cuba.

By the grace of God, Jamaican police officers fired no shots at him, and he was induced by family members to disembark in the wee hours of the morning. The rest of us, who were awakened by phone calls of the shocking news, could only sit in front of the television, pray for his and everyone's safety, and watch it all unfold.

He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia - a diagnosis that was thrown out by the Jamaican court system.

The trial was held on September 27 - yes he had to sit in jail for 5 months without bail - and he was found guilty on all charges. Maybe our familial relations has made me a biased source, but I strongly believe with every fiber of my being that the sentencing of 83 years - 20 to be served - that he received 2 days ago is malicious, ruthless, and quite barbaric.

Instead of focusing on lagging airport security and mental health awareness, the Jamaican government chose to "make an example" of him by sentencing him to more years than they do the average rapist and murderer - if they are even sentenced at all.

My cousin put it better than I can:

" I am absolutely disgusted at the outcome of young Stephen Fray’s court case. The final verdict was inhumane, to say the least, and unjust in every aspect. It is a disgrace that Jamaica calls itself a developing country when it is completely negligent towards providing good health care to citizens, more so, the mentally ill.

It has been said that Stephen’s sentence, to serve twenty out of eighty-three years in prison, was to set an example to Jamaican citizens highlighting the basis that “if you do the crime, you do the time.” I strongly believe that is utter foolishness. Why then do we have murderers, rapists, and child molesters rampant in the streets? Stephen Fray is an innocent young man who is only guilty of having Schizophrenia, a mental illness that he has no control over without treatment.

What happened that night of April 19, 2009 caused a lot of international attention on Jamaica. Now how embarrassing is it on our country when other nations see how inhumane our government is towards our citizens, especially our youth? Over the years the Jamaican government has found it so hard to tackle the crime and violence in the country, yet they are comfortable imprisoning a young innocent youth. Why must Stephen Fray suffer because of an unstable government? The example that the Jamaican government should have set is that of humanity and understanding.

Political persuasion should not have deliberated Stephen’s sentencing. They have completely robbed Stephen of his youth, freedom, and right to receive proper medical attention as a Jamaican citizen.

We need to speak out, reach out and change the face of our country. Words are powerful and voices are effective. Our youth are our future and Stephen Fray’s promising future should not have been taken away from him. All Stephen needed was help; all our youth need is help. We need to stop being negligent and start doing the right thing for a change. The world is watching! "

Racquel Fray

Its not over cousin. We will continue fighting until justice is served.

On To More Unimportant Things.

It is October and I have yet to go back to Miami to visit my friends, my car Fabian, and my house. It probably does not sound like a big deal to you, but to me that is majour.

At first, the weeks went by and I never really noticed. Now that I am so engulfed in endless schoolwork, I realise that even if I wanted to go home for a weekend, I would not have the time to do so. I could always just wait until thanksgiving, which I might end up doing, but that seems oh so far away. (On the plus side, after Thanksgiving means Christmas break!)

Mother dearest came up here this past weekend for "UCF Family Weekend." She did not cook as much as she probably should have, but it was nice to have her here. I went grocery shopping as usual, and we did some of the family things that my school had planned. We got a caricature that literally took the artist, Maria Bolton, about 3 minutes to draw.


We also did sand art, which brought out my inner child - because while every one else was satisfied with one, I sat there and went on and on and on...

I swear this could occupy me for days.

Last but certainly not least we went to the mall, wherein I spent a bit of my birthday money on clothes from American Eagle. They were all lovely, but my favourite shirt by far was not bought in Aerie. I won't reveal it's origin, but look, and enjoy. :)

I must find the perfect occasion to wear this.

Hello October

Finally! September is over . I am very excited to move on to what October has to offer; since September was no good.

Still quite bitter about The Commercial, my friend and I are planning to write a letter to Michael Moore. Sounds a bit crazy, I know, but we are excited. I am sure he likes getting emails about his work anyway, I mean who wouldn't?

I have actually been hesitating to make a new post because I would love for more people to read that last one. As for my friend, I'd like to add his bit:

"Being the "great friend" who introduced Meisha to Michael Moore's Sicko I guess she felt it fitting to contact me when she had seen that horrific "Anti-FREE Health Care" commercial. As soon as she mentioned it instantly the feeling of disgust came creeping back to me as I was also fueled with rage. We briefly discussed writing a blog or a letter to Michael Moore himself, even though the latter doesn't actually affect anything it was the simple fact that he highlighted something so important in his documentary that I personally believe all American people should see: We are supposedly the world's biggest SUPER POWER but yet American's all across the country are suffering from the lack of a proper health care system. You have people in this country that hate the job they do everyday but they subject themselves to staying in that very same job because of the health care benefits. How many of these people do you think know that they still have to get approved to receive care and the more severe the illness/disease is the less likely they will get approved to be treated?

Its time that the people, the masses realize that the powers that be do not care how many of us survive, they do not care about how healthy we are as a people nor the longevity of our families. The private corporations who capitalize on our current health care system would love to see things stay the same because they know they are overcharging us for simple medicines or "check ups" at the doctor. I mean how many people without health insurance have taken a trip to the doctor for a minor illness (from a chest cold to random unwarranted aches and pains) only to have your doctor tell you that you should take some Advil/Excedrin/Tylenol and then find out that your bill was anywhere between $100-$400 (and I am being very generous with those figures)? Or even worse, have your doctor prescribe you his OWN medicine which even seems like the better alternative because it is actually cheaper?

This has all got to stop! I want the masses to remember that we voted in Obama because he represented CHANGE, so if things are not going to change for the better then why did we go through all of that trouble to vote him in? Lets not fight against Obama because by all rights he is actually trying to do what he said he was going to do and I applaud that. He is the first President I have seen in a long time who honestly seems like he wants to fight for the masses and not just the few wealthy millionaires and billionaires in the country. Our population stands at over 300 million right now and I am telling you this without a shadow of a doubt:

"According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007, their latest data available."

I am not lobbying for these Americans to go and get health insurance now but what I am pushing for is that the masses wake up and support their President with his Health Care plan in anyway they know how. We cannot sit idly by while these already wealthy people capitalize on the demise of the rest of the population. This is our country too, we share it and I will be damned if I let some wealthy privately owned corporation fund an "Anti-Free Health Care" campaign while I say nothing. I may be one person, along with Meisha it makes two of us but we have voices, computers, the internet, pen's, pencils, paper and through one or all of these mediums we will be heard! Its time we the people make a difference...."

- Alexander Day