By Nixon Dickenson
In this week’s article in the series Voices from the Streets, I am going to share the views of Kevin Carter, another young man who is making a positive difference in his community.
Kevin has been employed in the civil service since 2007.
He is a willing and humble young man who takes great pride in keeping his community clean. His dedication to this cause personifies the slogan of these islands ‘beautiful by nature’.
During the street tour, I had the opportunity to speak with Kevin regarding his views on the criminal activities that had taken place in the country. Interestingly, Kevin’s perspective was that what our youths were listening to and watching was negatively affecting their behavior and decisions. He shared that growing up as a young boy, music was used to inspire and spread ‘positive vibes.
The music today Kevin believes is more geared towards promoting violence ‘an eye for an eye’ and sadly a ‘life for a life’. He shared that while music artists are becoming enriched through their music sales, our young people are clearly showing that they are unable to decipher an illusion from reality as gun violence often promoted in these songs is acted on in our communities.
He stressed the importance of parents and guardians being aware of what their children are listening to. He believes that children are given too much freedom to access inappropriate content which can only lead to their demise.
He believes that the food we eat plays apart in our thinking and judgment. His words of advice to young people were to remember that what an artist sings about through their music is not necessarily what they do, therefore it is important for the youths of the Turks and Caicos Islands to know the difference.
His advice to the youth was not to allow negative music to cloud their judgement. Kevin also shared about the importance of humble beginnings and how this seems to be despised nowadays. He proudly boasted of still riding his bicycle around the island of Grand Turk which was economical and environmentally friendly. He emphasized that young people should have big dreams, but it should be dreams that are earnestly pursued and attainted through hard work and not from a life of crime. He believed a dollar obtained honestly was worth more than millions made from dishonest means.
He stressed however that there must be greater awareness of the kinds of music that are played at events where young people socialize. It’s no longer about the beat, adults and caregivers need to pay attention to what is being said because indoctrination of the young mind through music is indeed a reality.
He ended by saying that parents cannot address indiscipline in their children when they are providing them with the resources and opportunities to feed their minds with negativity. I believe that this statement made by Kevin summed up the crux of the conversation.
As adults, we all share a collective responsibility to monitor what our young people are listening to and being influenced by through media. It is time for us to wake up and take control of this situation.