Commentaries

THE IMPACT OF BULLETS IN TORONTO

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By Neals J. Chitan

Saturday January 15, 2011: Last night, Friday January, 14th, 2011, I stood behind my former student, the father of another young Grenadian who was gunned down on Christmas Day in Toronto, as we gazed into the casket of his son Jordan Hosten.

As friends, acquaintances and supporters passed by the open casket at Scott’s Funeral Chapel on Weston Rd, to take a look and pay their respects, you could hear the cries of “that doesn’t look like him.” Indeed, the zombie-like remains lying there, fully deformed from the high powered impact of multiple bullets to the head had not the slightest resemblance of the handsome young Grenadian gentleman whose image was smilingly depicted in the portrait nearby.

Over the decades, I have attended many funerals across North America and the UK and witnessed the emaciated bodies of my friends and relatives who have fallen victims to the big killer diseases like; cancers, strokes, heart diseases and diabetes with all its complications. However, in these cases, friends and family are there to comfort and support as the victim’s health gradually depletes, transforming their one time healthy and robust bodies into almost unrecognizable frail figures at death.

But that’s not so in this case! In a few seconds, a hail of bullets aimed at the head of this eighteen year old, soon-to-be father, had so disfigured him that friends and relatives and even Roland his father remarked “that’s not my son” As I came close to comfort him, he took me closer to the head of the casket and in heart-breaking tones cried, “Mr. Chitan, come and see what they did to my boy.” He then slightly lifted the hat on his boy’s head to expose to me the brutal wounds that resulted from the impact of bullets on the human anatomy.

As I receded back to my corner of the visiting room, my thoughts raced back to just a year ago when another young Grenadian fell to the impact of bullets. But wait!! Why did I have to reminisce back to twelve months to Kenneth Mark, when only eleven days after this shooting of Jordan Hosten on Christmas day 2010, Venacio Julien another Grenadian young man also fell and died to the impact of bullets on January 05, 2011 on the east side of the city.

 The Toronto Star in its January 07, 2011 issue reported, that as his life ebbed away on the first floor of apartment building at 1021 Birchmount Rd, Julien could be heard calling “Chevon” the name of his young wife whom he was about to leave behind to raise their one and a half year old son.

And so, today as I stood at the graveside of Jordan Hosten at Beechwood Cemetery here in Toronto, thickly bundled up to handle the forecasted -14 plus C weather with 8 centimetres of snow and more coming down, I thanked God that I was still alive and standing by my mom and sister, while also sending up a silent prayer for my three sons, young men of Grenadian background, that they will make good decisions, thus never falling to the impact of bullets.

One Comment

  1. what can we do to help our young grenadian men both at home and aboard so that they do not have to be taken from this God given earth but guns and violence. we need to come together and do something to break this cycle. God help us